Global Q&A: ‘Do you feel comfortable buying products from China?’

I feel like Chinese goods are everywhere. The Chinese have occupied our market; I am beginning to feel like I’m in China. The products are low quality; one has to worry while buying that it’ll soon break. I’m on a disability pension so I have to buy them, but I have to be prepared for them to break in a week or two. Of course, good quality products would be better, but since my account is low, I buy these products.

I don’t agree with their governmental policy. I sometimes buy products that are made in China and I am ignorant of where they are made. I just look for what the most cost effective thing to buy is. I don’t necessarily look at what country it is made in.

No, I do not [feel comfortable buying Chinese products], and I am very concerned about the origin of all the variety of items I have to buy just to get along with my daily life. I have read and heard that some of the items we use are produced under the most horrible conditions in the Chinese Laogai [concentration camps]. I do believe this is true, since the information has come from so many independent sources, ranging from just Internet forum posts to academic research. There are supposedly 8,000,000 plus people in concentration camps or other such facilities in China—my entire homeland (Bulgaria) would fit in!

It does not feel good! I check almost every time before I buy something nowadays. I’ve been more careful with it, because I’ve heard about what is going on in China, and I have also learned more about how they treat their people. I usually look at the clothes I buy and other things to make sure the tag does not say “Made in China.” I do this because I do not want to support their slavery of their own people.

I used to feel okay about buying Chinese products, but over time I have realized how cheaply the products made in China are. Now, I only buy Chinese made toys for very young children because I know the children will break the toys quickly or grow out of them fast, so it’s not worth the money to buy expensive things. I try not to buy Chinese products like crockery, bedding, or electronics because the ones sold here are not durable and pretty poor in terms of quality. I choose to buy local brand shoes versus Chinese because the quality of Pakistani brands is better and they are generally more comfortable.

Yes, I’m past the stage of even bothering about it. I mean if I had a choice, I would buy Australian products every time. But there are so many Chinese products; the labeling is terrible and sometimes you may think you are buying stuff made in Australia, but you’re not, because the labeling is that bad. I don’t avoid it anymore.

I do not feel good; the quality of their products is not good. For example, I bought a pair of pants and within days they lost their “new” look. The finish was not good and they did not last long, but the jewelry may last a little longer.

Not really, since I think their products don’t reach the minimum standard in quality or security compared with the products we are accustomed to in Europe or in Western countries in general. Since our norms and regulations are stricter, the quality of the produced goods is better. I also don’t like these products because in some cases they are falsifications of well-known brands. These products from China have an unfair advantage over local products, indirectly supported by Western governments since the sale of these products is not controlled at all.

I feel that buying Chinese products is an alternative that the free market offers me at low cost; but I often doubt the quality of what I am buying so sometimes I try to find old shops that sell domestic products that will last longer. … I regret that trade globalization and the neo-liberal economic system have eliminated many domestic producers.

No, I do not really feel good [buying products from China]. Although sometimes these products can be bought at very low cost relative to domestic products, they are not good quality. But, on the other hand, there are many maquila firms in the Chinese territory and this means greater exploitation and excessive enrichment of these companies. I think this issue is very delicate, because these factories take advantage of the low cost of labor in China and the government’s permissiveness in child exploitation and poor working conditions.

Not particularly. They’re not exactly good quality products made in China although the markets are flooded with them.

Look for the Global Q&A column every week. Epoch Times correspondents interview people around the world to learn about their lives and perspectives on local and global realities. Next week’s global question: “What’s life like for single-mothers in your country?”