The author is clearly very young, and should be commended for the concern s/he expresses on behalf of people not so well off as we are in this country.

But it does puzzle me why China is the prime concern here.

It is a country that is improving the lot of its citizens every year, by making stuff that the rest of the world wants, at prices the rest of the world can afford. We are actively helping these people emerge from poverty by continuing to buy their output.

The quickest way to return these folk to worse living conditions is to stop doing so.

"And what the heck can we do to help the situation? Easy. When you go shopping for toys or any product, especially in regards to Christmas this year, have a squiz at the label and see if the product has been…MADE IN CHINA"

It is a strange perversion of logic to suggest that we would be helping these people by starving them of business - what does the author believe would be the fate of these people if their employer suddenly found themselves without a market for their toys? A cushy unemployment benefit, perhaps? A golden handshake?

I don't think so.

Rather than spending valuable energy on promoting the destruction of a country that is making progress in the world, would it not be more humane to divert political brainpower to solving some of the really intractable problems we see every day in Africa?

http://tinyurl.com/5bkqup

http://tinyurl.com/56uqku

It is about time that we accept that China is now strong enough to ignore us completely, and continue to forge its own path to creating prosperity for its citizens. We might not like it, but they are taking a well-trodden path from poverty to affluence, and there is nothing we can - or should - do about it.

Head explosion. BD and CJ agree.

Always, everywhere, somebody is getting unfairly exploited. Most of us know it but keep buying the end product anyway.

IMO the best we can do is mark our own boundaries, work out for ourselves what we will and will not support. I'll buy Chinese but still won't support Nestle, Telstra, Coke, Pepsi or American fast food.

I refuse to pay inflated prices
simply because it has a "designer"
label attached to it, when the product
clearly says, "Made in China," on it.

I'm not going to add to some Western
companies mega bucks.

Hey everybody, great to see your comments.

Firstly, Dickie. Thanks for your input. I was aware of the animal 'trade' in China. Your comment,

<This ancient "civilisation" remains a country of barbarians - a depraved race indeed. Poverty is no excuse for sadism!>

invites many points for discussion. I would not neccessarily agree that they are all barbarians though; there are always the rotten apples that spoil the whole barrel (with most of them being found in the government or positions of power) and that the Chinese have a few customs that conflict with our own value systems, eg they apparently lack conscience in regards to cruelty, of animals or people of their own race (I am not attempting to condone this, by the way). I admire your dedication though, keep it up. :)

Also some great comments from People Against Live Exports & Intensive Farming. I'll have to think about some of those comments for a while, they are very thought-provoking. Hope you have fun in the Bush, anyhow.

Polycarp, what you said is all too true. Chinese cruelty is only a reflection of the human race's downfall into sin. I suppose western nations are blessed to have their constitutions and social value system modelled on the morals of the Bible.

Pericles also has some interesting points, and I'll try do my best to answer the queries raised. Firstly I'll admit I am quite young, actually still a student (hence tmy name) and I am still learning/have a lot to learn about the world around me and its issues.

Quote:And what the heck can we do to help the situation? Easy. When you go shopping for toys or any product, especially in regards to Christmas this year, have a squiz at the label and see if the product has been…MADE IN CHINA

By this comment I was by no way suggesting an international boycott of all Chinese products. That would be silly, it is necessary for the health of their economy to trade! Though re-reading my comment now I apologize for lack of clarity. My intention was to highlight the explotation of Chinese workers by Western Manufacturers, and when shopping to 'limit' or 'restrict' these products. Chinese-made and Chinese-exported products are excluded. It is not the Chinese at all I am badgering, but the Western companies. If we pestered them enough, and threatened not to buy their products unless they treated their workers more decently, they would (hopefully) comply (or they wouldn't, in which case the Chinese workers wouldn't be any worse off - their jobs still retained). They already employ the cheapest workers on the planet, so it would be a terrible financial decision on their part if they were to fire them as there would be no-one else left to make their products at a cheaper price. And it isn't so much to ask of them to improve their worker's conditions and pay - they make mega-profits.


And the reason I chose China to discuss instead of a country from Africa is the fact that everybody talks about fair trade and human rights in Africa. My first preferences would be with Africa, and to be sure the issues China faces seem, to quote, 'insignificant' by comparison. But they still face issues, and these issues need to be addressed and discussed, for fear of them slipping past the radar altogether.

You're still missing an important point, SOS Student.

>>My intention was to highlight the explotation of Chinese workers by Western Manufacturers, and when shopping to 'limit' or 'restrict' these products. Chinese-made and Chinese-exported products are excluded.<<

The products you are concerned about are all "Chinese-made and Chinese-exported" They don't differentiate between a toy made under licence from Mattel, one counterfeited from a Mattel original and one made by Mattel themselves.

>>It is not the Chinese at all I am badgering, but the Western companies.<<

The workers themselves do not discriminate between factories. One that had been built and funded by a US giant provides work as good as that built and funded locally.

In fact, given the attention paid by the well-meaning media over the years, the US-owned version probably pays better, and provides better working conditions than the local.

But here's the rub.

>>If we pestered them enough, and threatened not to buy their products unless they treated their workers more decently, they would (hopefully) comply (or they wouldn't, in which case the Chinese workers wouldn't be any worse off - their jobs still retained).<<

You couldn't be more wrong.

If you insisted on unrealistic demands, they would simply close their factory and walk away. A straightforward commercial decision.

The world of business does not exist only to give workers something to do. It gives something for capital to do as well. And capital does not simply materialise from thin air, it needs to be created somewhere.

Usually by people who start off earning wages, and eventually save enough to start a business of their own.

The most constructive approach is to keep buying their products, and create millions of entrepreneurs who can be of maximum benefit to their economy.

At which point, it will be us who are out of a job, and willing to work for peanuts.

But that's another story, isn't it...