China Makes Inferior Products?

If you have been following the news for the past few days, or weeks, you might have realised the sometimes front page, sometimes small column article about China products being recalled.

As far as I can remember, there has always been a running joke about China making inferior products. My pen tip gets stuck? Oh the pen was made in China. A window breaks from a soccer ball? Oh window made in China, and thus cannot withstand such a "light" penalty kick. Which is kind off true, as our entire Hall now is made by South China Construction.

But now, the problem goes further than just a few broken pens. Recently, a (albeit faked) video of prepacked "paos" or steamed buns being manufactured in China surfaced. This video showed how the buns were made at a very low and economical cost, using cheaper flour, cheaper meat, cheaper packaging. But the absurd low cost came from replacing meat with liquefied then solidified cardboard. Thus the issue of inferior products from China resurfaced, appalling many, myself included.

What could be worse than or just as bad as cardboard paos, which are not mock ups, but real paos actually to be sold? I know it’s not very discerning of me to lump all the factories in China as "China" but the number of individual ones are too many for me to comprehend. Currently, the issue at hand would be the Mattel toys sold containing lead paint.

The effects of this were rather huge. Mattel recalled at least 18.5million toys, costing them billions, causing their share price to drop at least by 30 points. Poor quality control has been blamed on Mattel's side, while poor manufacturing has been blamed on China.

This lead paint could cause considerable brain damage to, perhaps, children, who ingest it. Perhaps when they playfully gnaw at it, or when they get addicted to licking toys. But the former is much more likely.

I would at this point, like to applaud the China and US government. Even though they might have their own economic interests at heart, they are still working towards the consumers benefit.

By recalling affected products, and calling for checks on all products made in China, the consumer watchdogs have helped us all maintain our safety. Not that I gnaw at Fisher Price toys of course.

But one side that everyone seems to have forgotten while pointing fingers and worrying for themselves, or their economy rather, is the humane side of things.

The owner of the factory that made the Mattel toys took his own life, disgraced and bankrupt. A minor careless mistake on his part, or by one of his workers, had caused worldwide panic, and his name, along with the companies utterly disgraced. He saw no foreseeable future and ended his life, a sad and beaten man.

His factory, closed down. The workers? Out of jobs.

Can they pay for their own livelihood? It's hard to earn enough money working at a factory. The meager salary is probably enough if you live alone. But with a family, that small amount of money barely covers the cost of food on the table.

530 words

Sources: Many different articles I have read on the paper