"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
We see a lot of stuff on here from time to time, about crappy Chinese
goods. Well, a couple of days ago, my usual office supplier sent me one of
their regular e-mail fliers, on which was a high-back padded leather
swivel chair with gas lift, castors, arms, rocker action and so on. Thirty
quid (about$60) delivered. I ordered it on the 'net Tuesday night, the man
delivered it Thursday lunchtime. How good is that ? But the really good
thing about this chair, and the point of the post, is the quality of it.
Really good stout shipping box with none of the printing that you would
'traditionally' associate with Chinese goods. The chair is superbly made.
Not a stitch out of place. No missing parts - in fact there are even some
"extra parts" set into the blister pack of screws and cover caps. Every
hole lined up where it should, and every hex-head screw, which were
pre-treated with a thread locking compound, drove straight in without any
effort, using the good quality hex wrench that was provided. Even the
assembly instructions and safety warnings were in full proper English (as
well as other languages), and the diagrams were properly drawn, rather
than the 'rice break' sketches we have become used to.

If the Chinese are going to churn out stuff like this now that they are a
'recognised' industrial power trading properly with the west, what chance
is western manufacturing going to stand in the years to come ? I assume
that electronic goods are going the same way, as I have now seen several
'Made in China' valve (tube) amplifiers that were similarly well built,
and have achieved some degree of acclaim over on one of the audio groups,
and at something like a quarter of the price of similar items of western
manufacture.

Arfa

Here in Australia, recently a couple of Chinese produced goods developed
notoriety for being dangerous, however I have also found many Chinese made
products to be of very high quality. I have also been concerned at what the
future is for the West with all the cheap and high quality goods flooding
the market.

Not to mention, in possibly a separate OT thread, about the infrastructure
of Western corporations (such as call centres, hr, etc.) being run out of
third world countries, some of which do it very efficiently.

As far as us being food producers, well, it's feasible for countries like
China to gear themselves up for that too. We seem to be surviving on "the
mineral boom" here right now. I don't know what the long-term future will be
for us though.

Henry.