Coquettish Rebirth

However, just after Jia Hongjian approved the application for such a special program on environmental pollution, there was another news immediately—at 8 pm on August 11, the vice chairman of Lingnan Shishan Lida Toys Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Businessman Zhang Shuhong hanged himself in the warehouse on the third floor of his factory, with more than a dozen packages of cute Sesame Street dolls piled up next to his body.Before committing suicide, Zhang Shuhong went around the factory area and settled all workers' wages.He came to Foshan from Hong Kong to set up a factory in 3. He was described by his employees as a kind man, tall, close to 1993 meters, and very strong, but his skin was very dark, and he was not particular about his clothes. He always wore a suit Very old casual clothes.He is very considerate to his employees, and he used to give his own money to the employees for housing. Many people have followed him for more than ten years because of this.The accidental death of this toy dealer made the topic of "Made in China" jump to the front page of important financial media at home and abroad again.

Zhang Shuhong's death occurred 9 days ago. On August 8, Mattel, the largest toy manufacturer in the United States, proposed to the Consumer Product Safety Commission of the United States to recall 2 pieces of plastic toys produced by Foshan Lida on the grounds that "the lead content in the surface paint of these recycled toys exceeds the standard, which is harmful to children's brains. The impact of the development is so high that the Sierra Club, an American environmental group, believes it endangers the safety of children."Before the incident, the output of Lida ranked second in the local toy manufacturing industry.Overnight, this joint venture with a good production record of more than ten years became the target of public criticism.Under the constant condemnation of American public opinion, the negligence of toy manufacturers and their upstream and downstream supply and inspection chains have been exposed and magnified one by one.In the end, Lida was required to rectify by the entry-exit inspection and quarantine department.The State Administration of Quality Supervision and Administration announced the suspension of the export of its products.Lida was forced to suspend production, and 96.7 workers had almost nothing to do. Zhang Shuhong was under tremendous pressure and eventually died.Three days after Zhang Shuhong's death, Mattel announced for the second time that the number of recalled Chinese-made toys had increased to 2500 million.

After the Lida incident, "Made in China" began to encounter a crisis of confidence that had been brewing for a long time. On August 8, Canada-based pet food company menu-foods issued a "recall statement" because of suspected contamination of raw materials that caused the death of cats and dogs. The company will conduct an emergency recall of more than 18 brands of pet food.All of these foods are packaged in cans or foil bags.The number is about 80 million.The US Food and Drug Administration's investigation concluded that the suspected contaminated products used wheat gluten powder and rice gluten powder imported from China, which contained melamine and cyanuric acid. In early May, Panama and the Dominican Republic announced that diethylene glycol was found in toothpaste made in China.Therefore, it was decided to stop selling toothpaste made in China.Subsequently, countries such as the United States, Singapore and Japan successively made decisions to stop using and selling toothpaste made in China.

August 8.FTS, an American tire distribution company, announced the recall of 21 light truck tires produced in China.According to an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in August last year, a truck carrying four passengers lost control and crashed in Pennsylvania.Two of the occupants were killed when the car's Chinese-made tire tread delaminated.In the same month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration automatically detained five aquatic products from China and refused their entry, claiming that they contained unapproved veterinary drug residues.The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that 45 million toy trains produced in China have been recalled worldwide, claiming that the paint contained lead metal that can cause poisoning to children.

These endless security incidents have seriously damaged the reputation of Chinese products.Some offensive remarks and actions against "Made in China" are rampant. Two years ago, the Louisiana journalist Sally Bongani, who announced that she would "not use Chinese products within a year", published "No "Made in China" at this time. "One Year" book.Jonathan Burchar, a commentator for the Financial Times, wrote: "There is a lot of subtext expressing dissatisfaction in the book, which means that on the issue of China's rise, the book may become another indicator of public concern." The condemnation of "made" has become a "tool" that some politicians use at their fingertips. The mayor of Palm Bay, Florida, USA, Marziotti even issued an order that the city government should not buy Chinese goods worth more than US$50, or more than half of the components. Goods made in China.

The small city of 10.7 residents became the first in the nation to ban goods from a certain country.It was in this turbulent wave of boycott that the death of the toymaker pushed the contradiction to the apex.It seems that there is no need to justify the abuse or insulting accusations against Chinese products. This is one of the weirdest events in the business world today: no one can do without "Made in China", but everyone is expressing dissatisfaction with it. The Financial Times' Beijing-based chief correspondent, Raymond Mallard, describes the ambivalence in the Western world: "On the one hand, Western consumers are reaping huge benefits, and on the other hand, Westerners complain loudly that cheap Chinese goods are costing locals jobs. Let China get unquestionable benefits."

After Zhang Shuhong's death, the toy recall incident unexpectedly had a dramatic repetition in the determination of the person responsible for the quality.At the outset, Mattel appeared to be a victim, with CEO Robert Eckert arguing in testimony to the U.S. Senate that the responsibility for the accident lay entirely with the Chinese contractor.He said: "Someone is sorry for us, which caused us to be sorry for you." However, the Chinese commercial department found in the investigation that most of the toys announced by the United States were not due to manufacturing quality problems, but the sudden change of the American standard and the dealers. risk transfer.According to Gao Cheng, an executive from the commercial department, the 2100 million toys involved in the large-scale recall of American toy companies are divided into two categories: one is the problem of excessive lead content in the paint and paint used, and there are about 300 million toys in this category , accounting for 14% of the overall number of recalls.

The reasons for the excessive lead content are not only the loopholes in the production management of the Chinese manufacturers, but also the defects of the brand dealers in the acceptance process.The second situation is that the risk of the US dealers is transferred. In May 2006, the American Society for Testing and Materials announced a new standard for the use of toy materials. The 5 million toys produced by the Chinese manufacturer were produced according to the previous export standard, and the American dealer recalled them on the grounds that they did not meet the new standard. For toys, all risks and losses shall be borne by the Chinese party.The emergence of this survey result has once again caused an uproar in public opinion at home and abroad, and the passive and oppressed status of "Made in China" in the global industrial chain has been fully revealed. On September 1820, under enormous pressure from public opinion, Mattel apologized to the Chinese side for the toy recall, and said that most of the recalled toys were caused by design defects in the US, rather than problems of Chinese manufacturers.Mattel said in a statement, "willing to accept full responsibility for these recalls and personally apologize to the Chinese people and all customers who have received our toys."

The ups and downs of the toy turmoil and the many events that occurred in this year show that "Made in China", which started around 1998, has reached a very sensitive crossroads after 10 years of golden growth.There are at least two facts that make the future of "Made in China" full of variables.Chinese manufacturers have been squeezed by international distributors.In the past many years, cheap Chinese goods have provided huge support for the stabilization of global commodity prices, and large distribution companies have become the biggest beneficiaries, and their interest wars with Chinese manufacturing factories have intensified.In factories in eastern Zhejiang and other places, people see such a scene, hanging different trademarks on a production line, some are prominent international brands, some are brands of domestic manufacturers, although they are all manufactured from the same production line Come out, but after affixing different trademarks, the worth will be doubled or even several times the difference.

The power of the brand is brutally and emotionally displayed in these workshops, but the manufacturing plants rarely benefit from this difference.The president of a Wenzhou leather shoe factory was very helpless: "The export of Chinese leather shoes is currently completely controlled by several large distributors in Europe and the United States. For the price of 5 dollars, if we ask for one cent more, they will immediately turn around and go to other factories. So, what kind of leather materials will we use to make a pair of leather shoes worth 1 dollars? What kind of savings will we make? Isn’t it possible? Have you imagined it? Can you expect that the leather shoes made with 5 dollars will be of first-class quality? Besides, with the continuous appreciation of the renminbi, the export business of Chinese leather shoe manufacturers has become a tasteless business.”

In August, Langsha Group, China's largest hosiery manufacturer, announced that it would no longer accept orders from Wal-Mart after the last batch of goods was delivered at the end of the month.The company provides Wal-Mart with $8 million in goods every year, but because the profit is too thin, it finally chose to give up.The public opinion controlled by international brand products and distributors seems to have been strengthening the dwarfing and slander of Chinese manufacturing. The Chinese version of the "Global Luxury Report" claims that it has found through surveys that 500% of Chinese consumers are unwilling to continue buying luxury goods because of the word "a". For consumers who believe in top luxury goods, "China "Made" has become one of the barriers to conspicuous consumption.The report said, “In the current situation, whoever admits to setting up factories in China will be kicked out of the circle of luxury goods.”

In this way, the topic of "Made in China" will continue.A butterfly in the tropical rainforest of the Amazon River Basin flaps its wings occasionally, and two weeks later, it may cause a tornado in Texas, USA.Such a "butterfly effect" is happening between China and the world, and Zhang Shuhong is an innocent and tragic victim.Jia Hongjian was worried that such a problem about dwarfing Chinese manufacturing would be extended to Huaxia Hi-Tech?Will it be transferred to Huaxia Hi-Tech's mobile phone and tablet by a group of grand masters like the United States? (To be continued..)