Lots of writing by others on this topic over the past couple of months, including the government’s PR attempts to sway public opinion in other countries regarding Chinese imports.

You would not be surprised to learn that PR campaigns of that nature are not high on my list of favorite things. People can be influenced by television commercials, certainly, but they are much more likely to base their opinions on real life.

The following is just one example of the difficulties faced by the ‘Made in China’ crowd:

Here’s the problem, just about everything from China seems to fall apart after a couple months.

This was written on a widely read US blog, and I assume the author is American. He goes on to document several instances where a China product he has purchased has fallen apart, failed to work properly, etc. The US, Japanese, Taiwanese products, on the other hand, are A-OK.

Fair enough. If your stuff falls apart, you have the right to complain about it. However, I would like to know how this guy buys his stuff (one product was purchased on E-bay) and from where. Is he going for a low price? Is he shopping at places like Wal-mart and Radio Shack?

Unfortunately, he then goes on to make a series of generalizations based on bullshit assumptions:

The problem is, no one from China can afford the stuff they make, so why would they care what the quality is like.

I guess it sounded good in his head when he was drafted this column, but that’s certainly erroneous. Hello? World’s fastest-growing luxury goods market anyone? Rise of the middle class? Does any of this sound remotely familiar???

I think the image of millions of folks working in sweatshops to put together cheap crap that is sold to unsuspecting dupes in the West is the operative one here, and one that is proving difficult to unseat in the minds of many foreigners.

The lack of strong Chinese brands overseas has been cited by many as a problem, and this column was no exception:

Can you name even one “brand” from China? Seriously. And we’ve been buying stuff from there for a while now.

Quite true of course. If your entire experience with China-labeled products consists of cheap drek you get at Wal-mart, that will definitely shape your opinion on the subject. No matter that Wal-mart’s business plan calls for selling you cheap drek at low prices, that’s not something that rises to the surface of consumer thinking. They don’t always realize that better quality would most likely involve higher prices.

It’s a shame is that most Western consumers see that “Made in China” label only on the cheap stuff, and they don’t realize that some very high-end items include China-made components that are produced to very careful specifications. Just not on the radar for most consumers of electronics, appliances, automobiles, etc. No, it’s that $1 flashlight that breaks after a month that gets noticed.

Ultimately this guy is right. The “Made in China” brand will only take off with the success of famous Chinese brands, some of which hopefully will be working off a platform of their own proprietary technology.

That being said, I don’t think that countries stop making low-end stuff simply because they learn better QC. Sure, higher-end items often mean higher profit margins, but if a company can sell a lot of cheap shit with low margins, it will continue to do so. Countries like Japan, Korea, and Taiwan (I suspect), did not get out of the low-end market simply because they could, but because they were faced with competition from lower-cost countries like China.

Since China started facing cost issues several years ago, resulting in the government cheerleading in the are of domestic IP, branding, and tech acquisition, the same thing is happening here.

This will all take some time, but as competition bleeds off lower-end manufacturing, China will (hopefully) be left with higher-end production. And then you’ll get your high quality products, famous brands, and a successful “Made in China” image.

Hopefully our friendly Western columnist has the patience to wait a bit longer.