Two articles that raise troubling questions on the issue of science in China. The article in the NY Times brought up a lock of the challenges that China has. They are using an industrial model for scientific research. The challenge is there is also a culture of many scientists for papers at any cost. The cost being a bit of faking.

Is science from China in danger of going down the same path of food safety in China? Will there be a contaminated milk type scandal in the sciences that will taint science in China? Lancet and Nature both had editorials after 70 papers with fake data were withdrawn. It's disturbing that in a survey more than half of scientists in China, knew of someone faking data.

Labels: china food safety, china's future, made in china

Poorly made - Why so many Chinese products are born to be bad. Book Review from the Economist.

Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the Tactics Behind China's Production Game (Hardcover)

Read the review in the Economist. Scary, fascinating, enthralling... Same with on Amazon.

I disagree a bit with the reasoning behind on the why.

My thoughts on the why:

1. Rule of law (who cares if there is little chance of legal action in China).
2. Focus on short term results/relationship
3. Amoral attitude in business/lack of ethics

Labels: made in china

Great blog with an excellent title!

Good posting on Vegetarians in China.

http://www.lostlaowai.com/blog/china-travel/a-vegetarians-introduction-to-china/

I am lucky that where I live, Rowland Heights, has two excellent vegetarian restaurants.

Labels: china food safety, made in china

A kindergarten student was told "that everything is made in China and that is bad" so I thought I would create a list of some positives:

Why be Proud - Kindergarten Version

1. Your iPod and iPhone were also made in China.
2. China's culture is 5000 years old. Europe was still in the stone age.
3. Chinese discovered fireworks, remember Mulan.
4. Chinese created Kung Fu, remember Kung Fu Panda.
5. China invented paper and printing
6. China's government has said they are going to fix the issue of bad stuff coming from China.
7. China invented paper money.
8. China has put a man in space.
9. China hosted the 2008 Olympics.
10. China invented kites!

I am writing this from home, so I don't have my book " Made in China - Ideas and Inventions from Ancient China by Suzanne Williams " as a reference, or the list would be much longer.

Europe and the US had the same type issues such as food safety during the Industrial revolution (guess what my daughter is studying). Upton Sinclair's the Jungle about the Meat Packing industry documents this in the US.

Labels: made in china

On the side I also do some Marketing Consulting. I know, with what free time? It's a for company that is distributing projector screens in the US, that are made in China. So there is a Chinese connection to this! What I have learned about Chinese culture helps a lot in working with them. I think they were in a bit of shock after I went through their initial catalog with a red pen (10 years as an Engineer with lots of usage of red ink on blue prints builds bad habits). I am surprised at what a big market their is for projector screens and how many people are competing in this market. Projector screens are a lot more high tech than I thought with the coatings and fabrics, viewing angles, and such. My job is to make all this stuff make sense, in other translate the science type into what regular people can understand. Of course I need to understand it first, which is coming along.

Labels: made in china, projector screens

Brazil bans Chinese food products from eTaiwan News. And I thought my friend who tried so hard never to eat anything from China about eight months ago was going overboard. An example was in the restaurant, he would only order a vegetarian dish and not even tofu, since you never knew where it was coming from. And this is a nice article for reference - Wary US Olympians Will Bring Food to China.

Of course some countries are being careful not to upset China, such as Thailand. A public health scare, a PR failure Bangkok Post, Thailand - Oct 4, 2008

Labels: Chinese Food, made in china

The current crisis in Milk seems strange for a country such as China that has made such huge economic strides and where Made in China has in many areas become a symbol of quality. So many items are manufactured in China including my iPhone. I suggest the reason for this has been a focus on growth at any cost at a local level and at a national level keeping everything calm (ie if there are no problems reported, the people won't get upset).

China's top leadership are Engineers, so they are great at making huge projects happen. The Beijing Olympics, The three gorges dam, and the recent space walk. All amazing accomplishments, but all Engineering focused. Disclaimer, my under-graduate is in Engineering.

A challenge for the central authority, is outside of huge projects where they can apply enough pressure, is dealing with the small stuff. This is delegated or taken care of by the local authorities, and only when it becomes a huge problem does Beijing step in (local governments try to avoid this at all cost). I would compare the local governments to warlords, without the ability to fight each other. They control everything from how laws are applied and often have ownership of local companies. Because of the power of their position, and lack of oversight by the public or central government, this gives them a lot of opportunity to do whatever they want. The press is controlled, which removes the public oversight. The response has been civil disturbances (87,600 of them last year), and when they are big enough the central government intervenes. The use of IM has increased the ability of groups to quickly form.

My modest suggestions on what China can do.

Labels: china's future, made in china

Melamine, Melamine, and Melamine. The same type of scandal happened a year ago, but then it only affected Pets in the US and some toothpaste. Now it's affecting China and getting massive publicity, and do the the huge amount of Chinese food exports recalls have spread to Sausage in Japan, to Baked Goods in Taiwan, and to the Mr. Brown Ice Coffee drink that used ingredients from China. This has hurt the positive bounce that China got in their reputation for quality with the Olympics. The space walk that China just did was overshadowed by the milk contamination scandal.

So what can China do?

Current Actions by Chinese Government:

• Publicity inside China on this disaster, allow only trusted media to write about it. China's government for over a year had issued orders to the Chinese news media not to write about food safety issues.
  
• Delete any references on the Internet in China on blogs, web sites, etc.
  
• Have Chinese leadership do photo ops with victims.
• Arrest a few people (only 12 arrested so far).
• Fire local officials (I think 5 so far) and have head of testing resign.
• Threaten any lawyers who try to help victims to sue.
• Run articles saying how milk remaining on shelf is OK.
• Run stories about how more testing is being done and this only happened at large firms that were exempt from testing since the were trusted. My opinion on this - BS. Lots of corruption allowed this to happen.

Summary - Show the problem has been fixed and downplay as much as possible so can focus on more important issues. Very similar to what was done with Szechuan School Collapse disaster.

My suggestions:

1. Allow the news media in China to report on food safety stories.
2. Allow Chinese Media to write about corruption issues.
3. Remove threat of retaliation from local officials on news stories.
4. Stop censoring of Internet inside China on corruption and food safety stories. I would totally free the media, but I don't see China's leadership doing this. The problem with corruption is it goes pretty far up and includes the communist party, and the leadership is worried that more stories about corruption will hurt the credibility of the communist party.
   
5. Allow food prices to be set by the market. What happened was China's milk prices were kept artificially low, so producers increased their profits by watering down the milk and then adding Melamine so it could pass the test for having enough protein. The protein test was probably put in place after several babies died due to baby formula that did not have enough protein in it in 2004.
6. Hold local elections.
7. Separate the local governments from local businesses. Local business leaders are often also local government officials.
   

Labels: china food safety, made in china

Originally I was going to title this O No, Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown Coffee made by King Car in Taiwan started buying some creamer from China, and Melamine was tested in their ice coffee.

Somebody is still doing google ads for Mr. Brown Coffee and here is a cute Review : Mr.Brown Iced Coffee. I used to drink it all the time, but since I have been trying to lose a bit of weight I stopped.

Last night my dear wife was going through our cabinet and getting rid of all the delicious breakfast powders and instant drinks she had bought made in Taiwan. Unfortunately the milk in them may be contaminated. So bye bye the instant Almond Tea, the instant Ginger Tea, whole grain instant cereal with curry, etc.

In Taiwan, people are avoiding bakeries because you don't know where the milk came from. and milk sales are down - Carrefour dairy sales halved after milk scare in China. A test for Melamine has been developed in China that takes 20 minutes and costs $2.90, where is used to cost $20 and take a week. Taiwan has banned the importation of Chinese dairy products.

Last year after the thousands of pets lost their lives due to Melamine many US companies started researching to find out which of their ingredients came from China and to find out if they could get rid of them to limit their exposure. I wonder how much more of that there is going to be after this milk scare.

Labels: china food safety, made in china

China's Export Machine Threatened by Rising Costs - from the Wall Street Journal. Basically 75% of China's gross domestic product, US is 20%. So with exports increasing in price by about 5% last year, WalMart etc. is looking for cheaper costs than Made in China. This is in addition to increases due to shipping costs. Some businesses are even moving manufacturing back to the US do to increased fuel costs. Others are moving factories to Vietnam. China is attempting to move up the food chain into higher value added goods. The problem is when you just copy, there is not a lot of value added in that. All you are competing on is price. A friend of mine, an inventory, visited a factory in China with a bunch of computers, and was told this was their R&D. Looking at patent filings in the US and Japan. Historically many items were invented in China, this book is a great read! Made in China - Ideas and Inventions from Ancient China by Suzanne Williams

Labels: made in china

Investors Seek Asian Options to Costly China- NY Times article.

Lots of businesses moving to Vietnam in search of cheaper labor, stability, tax breaks, etc.

At the trade show we were setting up today, and a person who helped give us some tie wraps was making a joke about the tie wraps we had. That sometimes good stuff came out of China, but that was by mistake. And I thought what about that iPod, it's made in China. China produces junk, but at the same time has world class products. And just looking at wages, it's not the cheapest. But what matters is the total cost equation. Some businesses due to higher freight costs are moving back manufacturing to the US and Mexico. Freight with the high cost of oil is not cheap anymore.

Labels: made in china

Interesting this is finally noticed. Chinese companies are all for whatever makes the most profit. There are so many companies in the area I work in,mostly important/export, but there is some manufacturing.

Chinese firms bargain hunting in U.S. from the LA Times

Cute book about the many inventions discovered in China, like the compass. Made in China - Ideas and Inventions from Ancient China by Suzanne Williams

Labels: made in china

My daughter's last Cello had an accident... On a American Airlines flight to NY City, her Cello got crushed and developed a couple of cracks. We had no idea about claiming from the airline (you have to do it at the airport). Upsetting experience. We had it fixed, but the person fixing it did a poor job. We took it to foster's violin shop the City of Orange, California who gave us the news it was not worth fixing. They were recommended by my daughter's cello teacher. Wow, they really know Cello's. And their office is in a craftsman era house that is just a gem.Push button switches for lights, leaded glass, wood floors, crown molding, etc.

So we are in the market for a new cello for our daughter. We stopped by Morey's Music in Lakewood California. Family run, and now on their fourth generation. They have Chinese made Cello's, but it's amazing what they have done to make sure they are excellent. We made an appointment with Jonathan (third generation) who is in charge of their Cello shop. They buy the wood, make sure it's been dried, then they supply it to a Cello shop that they trained on how to make a particular style of cello, and then comes back to their shop to be set up. Good cello's are all hand carved and each Cello is a little bit different because of the wood. Set up is a pretty intensive and manual, labor process that makes a lot of difference on the sound. They need to set up the bridge, new strings, often sound the fingerboard, change the position of the soundboard, and sometimes change out the pegs. For Romanian Cello's often, since they are machine made they have thicker wood that needs to be removed to get a great sound (more labor).

Morey's Music sell Cello's up to $50K (no, we are not in that price range - and no, not even if I get a lot more orders for Learning Chinese Language & Culture Products will I be in that price range. My daughter's instructor has a cello that is worth $160,000, but he is a professional musician. Cello's vary in cost from $600 to $3200 in the student range. You can buy a cello in the $200 range, but you need to be careful. It may have a terrible sound. The one we bought originally the neck was a bit warped because of the wood used, which I understand is typical in low end cello's from China.

China has taken over the low end and middle of the market. Per Jonathan, probably 80% of the instruments in the world are made there. The challenge with Cello's is there is a lot of junk being sold. If Cello's are made with wood that has not been cured, the neck will warp and a year and there goes the Cello. You can buy a Cello over the Internet, but the problem is a good Cello is a work of art, and you need to hear it to judge if you will like it. What we are doing is taking the Cello to my daughter's music teacher to get his opinion. My daughter is good enough to tell good from bad, but not up to good from better, best, etc.

It's typical of Cello teachers is refer you to their friend to buy a cello. And if you don't buy from their friend, they will keep on putting your cello down. This happened with my daughter's first cello teacher. We bought direct from an importer and saved a bit of money. So the instructor was pointing out how each string did not have a tightener on the bottom. So one time we met her at a music store that she was giving lessons to other students, and we saw a cello one of her other students had bought from her student. Oops, not all the strings had tighteners. So we found another Cello teacher since her credibility was shot. My daughter's current Cello Teacher is super!

Cute, related book.

				Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear by Lensey Namioka
				Our Price: $4.50
				Nine-year-old Yang and his family have immigrated from China to Seattle and the father is a professional Violin Play. He has been giving Yang Violin lessons for years, and Yang hates the Violin. Yang discovers Baseball! A great story about fitting in and getting used to a new country and culture.

Labels: made in china

Made in China conjures up images of low quality junk when it does not have a foreign brand name on it. From iPods to piano to cellos, so many are made in China due to lower labor costs.

There are basically three quality range for Pianos. The low end of the market that is made in China, Korea, and Indonesia. The medium range of the market is piano's made in Japan from Yamaha and Kawai. The high end is Steinway and German pianos such as Bosendorfer (my daughter loved test playing a 9'). There are some pianos that are made in China with German actions, to German design, etc. The made in China Pianos range in quality from poor to fair, the challenge is figuring out which one is good. Many pianos made in China now put on foreign names, such as Vienna for a European name. The quality of the Chinese brands is improving quickly and has resulted in them owning most of the lower end of the market. The challenge is some Chinese pianos have pretty good quality, and others are horrible. A great book to buy if you are looking to buy a Piano is the Piano Book by Larry Fine helps you sort through all the wonderful claims. We bought a Kawai piano after visiting many Piano shops. If your interested in an upright and in the Los Angeles area, we are selling our old one. Contact me for more information

Stringed instruments from China have taken over 80% of the market in the US. The challenge is figuring out the quality. So many of them have a foreign name plastered on them, resold by US companies, it's hard to tell where they came from. Music teachers often have a friend who sells instruments. Music teachers also get a bit upset when you buy from another place. One music teacher was upset that we bought from another person and told us how lousy our cello was. She then showed us the cello of another student, and it did not have tighteners on all the strings as she has pointed out our cello did not. Her credibility was gone after that so we changed teachers.

				Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear by Lensey Namioka
				Our Price: $4.50
				Nine-year-old Yang and his family have immigrated from China to Seattle and the father is a professional Violin Play. He has been giving Yang Violin lessons for years, and Yang hates the Violin. Yang discovers Baseball! A great story about fitting in and getting used to a new country and culture.

Labels: made in china, music

Senate OKs tougher inspections of foreign-made toys and Senate OKs tougher overseas toy checks

The house and senate version still need to be reconciled. I was surprised to read that the Consumer Products Safety Commission only has half the staff it did in 1980. What is driving this is the fear that states will develop their own regulations (already happening).

Labels: made in china

Sad. It seems some Digital Picture Frames made in China have a virus on them, that steels passwords and such.

So far the list of goods made in China that have had issues:

• Toys
• Jewelry
• Food
• Electronics
• Medicine
• Dog Food

This is not helping the made in China brand. China has a lot of hackers and the government has the attitude that as long as the attacks are outside of China, it's fine. Since they are a potential resource if a cyber war ever happened with another country.

Labels: china economy, made in china

Charges were filed for a US couple who are owners of a US firm that imported the chemical that was mixed with pet food and resulted in the death of thousands of pets. Charges were also filed against two Chinese companies. Per the LA Times:

ChemNutra Inc., which imports Chinese food and ingredients for distribution across the United States, along with married owners Sally Qing Miller, 41, and Stephen S. Miller, 55, were charged in a 27-count indictment with evading mandatory inspections of the ingredients in China, delivering adulterated food, misbranding food and conspiring to defraud the companies that unknowingly bought the tainted ingredient. All but the conspiracy count are misdemeanors.

Comments - I thought the history was a bit different, and did not realize the product was directly imported from China. I thought it went through another country. Overview/commentary of what happened.

Related Posts:
China's Food Safety Update
Details - US Getting more access on China Safety

Labels: china food safety, made in china

Some very smart moves today in the Media by the Chinese Government as they continue their campaign to save the reputation of the Made in China label.

1. In today's Wall Street Journal, an editorial China Stands for Quality by Wu Ji, Vice Premier of China, Minister of Health. Nicely written positive piece about what China has done on making sure it's good are of high quality and such.

2. China signed a Food Safety Accord. What this means theoretically is increased ability to track to the source when there are food safety issues including US inspectors in China.

It's vital the China get the product and food safety issue fixed in China not just because it's the right thing to do, but because of the potential harm to China exports if it's not that would directly hurt the Chinese economy. A trade war would be bad for China. The US has been lucky that the only product safety issues from China for food killed pets, in other countries they killed people including Children in Panama.

Labels: china food safety, made in china

NY Times article mentions that China is also cracking down on food issues which is good if China wants to rescue the Made in China Label.

This goes back to the big pet food scandal of the wrong labeling on a chemical that killed many pets. And the counterfeit sweeteners in Panama that were used in cough syrup that killed365 mostly children.

Now the Toy District in Los Angeles is suffering because of safety worries about products that are imported with sales down 40%. This indicates the Made In China label is taking some hits, which is understandable with the Lead Paint and other toy scandals I mentioned:

• Boy Scout Badges with Lead Paint
• Update on Lead and Product Safety
• Another Chinese Toy Recall
• Chinese Halloween & Hungry Ghost Festival

And there were a few I have not mentioned - like aquadots, but this is Child friendly blog.

Labels: china food safety, made in china

NY Times Editorial on Luxury companies who make items in China on the sly. Typical tactics include black on black labeling for those labels with country of origin. Putting the last 90% (like the handles) on in France or Italy, or just changing the made in label. Pretty hypocritical.

What I liked was the part of the story that included Xenophobic (fear or contempt of foreigners).

Luxury brand executives who declare that their items can be made only in Western Europe because Western European artisans are the only people who know what true luxury is are being not only hypocritical but also xenophobic.

China makes a lot items for export, some junk, but also a lot of items with high quality. The headache is figuring out which are the high quality items (like ipods and a huge amount of the world's electronics).

Labels: made in china