The Hindu Business Line : ‘It’s too late to turn away from Chinese products’

On the Google, ‘India’ gets 619 million web finds. For ‘China,’ the results add to one billion plus 20 million. It may be a consolation that India scores nearly 4,000 more ‘news’ results than what China gets.

Let’s face it: China is a colossus in the world economy. So much so that to ignore it from any of the business equations may be as impossible as not noticing an African elephant passing by.

Yet, that is what Sara Bongiorni decided to do three years ago, on January 1, 2005. She did what Mahatma Gandhi tried to in 1921. Though not swadeshi in any sense, along with her family, she began a yearlong boycott of Chinese products, “to see for themselves what it would take, in will power and creativity, to live without the world’s fastest growing economy – and whether it could be done at all.” Born out of that experiment was “A Year Without ‘Made in China’” (Wiley, 2007).

The book opens on a gloomy note, a dark afternoon two days after Christmas, when the author realises “China is taking over the place.” She sorts out her Christmas gifts into two stacks: China and non-China. “The count comes to China 25, the world 14.” Somewhere along the way, things have gotten out of hand, feels Sara.

Suddenly, she wants China out! “We are not cogs in a Chinese wheel, at least not yet. We can stop bringing China through the front door. We can hold up our hands and say no, thank you, we have had enough,” she declares.

“The book is a personal response to a fast-changing world, not a political one (though, as you know, there are many complex political questions related to all of this),” says Sara in one of the e-mail exchanges with Brand Line a few days ago.

“The book is in some ways not even about China, but about coming to terms with the idea that we are so dependent on the rest of the world, and so closely intertwined with it in our daily lives, that the idea of stepping back from that relationship is no longer possible, despite our misgivings about giving up our independence,” she explains.

“In that sense, I hope the story is universal, because I don’t think anybody cedes their independence without at least some mixed emotions, at either the personal or national level.”

Excerpts from the interview.

Chinese clothes, toys, stationery and electronics seem to have dominated American store shelves for many years now. What do you think is the reason for the sudden U-turn of the collective American conscience against Chinese-made products? Is it a culmination of brewing discontent in the labour market? Is it motivated by the inability of the American government to engage Chinese officials in discussions about fair trade? Or is it politically motivated, because the US perceives China as a potential superpower that could threaten America’s current status as the sole superpower of the world?

I think it is probably a combination of those things, but the most immediate reason for the sudden public wariness of products from China, I believe, comes from the fact that there were so many high-profile recalls by the US government of products made in China in 2007.

Products made in China are everywhere in Americans’ daily lives, and I think people do worry about lost American jobs in particular, but these worries are easier to ignore than potential health impacts from defective and dangerous products. China accounted for the vast majority of recalls of toys and about 66 per cent of all recalls by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2007.

Of course, there is also the drumbeat of political differences, including differences over Taiwan, Tibet, and so forth – you will recall that China was not pleased by the Dalai Lama’s honour here. So all those things come together to add to the tension. But what I discovered through my family’s yearlong experiment is that, like it or not, China, by which I mean consumer products made in China, are an inescapable component of modern American life, and it’s too late to turn away now.

Unlike the other markets of the world, where local manufacturing was either promoted or was preferred, despite the higher prices, American businesses have always tended to scout the world for cheap labour and cheap outsourcing opportunities. Which partly explains why the US is so dependent on China compared to any other country of the world. It is also known that a majority of Chinese imports into the US come from subsidiaries/factories that are at least part-owned and operated by the American parent for example Mattel/Fischer Price. So, when these companies have had operations and have been outsourcing from China for the past two decades and more, why are Chinese suppliers being held accountable now? Shouldn’t the American companies involved be pulled up (on the contrary) for the lax quality control?

The companies are ultimately responsible for the quality of their products, regardless of where they are made. Again, the recalls brought into view the very real downside of looking for the cheapest source of labour, as doing business in a country with few, if any, consumer protections obviously includes real risks from a consumer-safety vantage point.

The US Congress is now working to shore up weaknesses in the federal agency responsible for ensuring the safety of all consumer products, so that is one way the issue is being handled.

Also, the Chinese equivalent of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission last summer signed an agreement with the US not to export toys or children’s products to the US that contain lead. (Although lead in toys has been banned for 30 years in the US, obviously there were some pretty big gaps in the system – again, it’s the companies that bear the responsibility for making sure what they make abroad or import adheres to US standards.)

I think the problems with unsafe Chinese products that came to light last year again highlight the mutual dependency of the US and China on each other. American consumers, for better or worse, rely on China for a huge share of what they buy, while China’s export economy is hugely important to that country.

By the way, the book is NOT about any of these things. It is, instead, a memoir that tracks what happened when our family swore off goods made in China for a year, as a way to test our personal dependence on China.

In effect, our experiment set aside many of the political questions to ask a more fundamental one, which is whether in the current age it’s even possible to live without imports from China, regardless of the many complicated and troubling issues relating to that trade relationship.

Somehow this whole issue about the Chinese usurping manufacturing jobs being talked about now reeks of hypocrisy. It urges you into drawing a parallel with the way many Americans grapple with credit card debt. Keep shopping until the outstanding grows to a point where it becomes unmanageable. Solution – dump the credit card. Your comment?

Well said! One of the things I came to realise as we boycotted China was just how much consumerism is at the centre of our daily lives – and one of the unintended impacts for us was that we simply do not buy as much as we used to. Imports from nations with lower labour costs make it easier to consume, and considering the conditions under which many of those items are made that’s certainly troubling.

Certainly having access to less expensive goods makes it tempting to spend more, including on things that are not essential, and yet for many low-income Americans those less expensive, often good quality, goods are also important. Again, this falls outside the focus of the book, so not sure how valuable my opinions are on this.

Is it believable American business and the American public by extension weren’t aware about how China manages to out-price the rest of the world? Inhuman working conditions, subsidised natural resources, a low wages regime that is thrust upon its people, a manipulated currency are all ways by which China has ensured that no other country (especially democracies) can get even close to its unfair manufacturing prowess. While the American government postures about the Chinese threat, American corporations and their rich owners, shareholders go laughing all the way to the bank.

I think there are many people concerned about China’s policies, including its human rights abuses, low wages and such, and many Americans would prefer to buy products made elsewhere, under better conditions. Ironically, many common items, such as cell phones, are now made almost exclusively in China, so that it is extremely difficult to avoid products made in China even for individuals who object to the labour conditions and so forth.

What reactions did your book meet with?

As far as reactions, they have been positive for the most part, in that I think a lot of people, and not only Americans, struggle with these complicated questions about dependency on a non-democratic nation. The book is being translated into several languages (Chinese, German, Korean, Japanese, French), so I think that provides some indication that this is a subject of broad interest.

Your next book …

Oh, I don’t have another book project under way – not yet anyway. But I am hoping to do another memoir of some type, possibly about my husband, who had a very unconventional childhood that included running away to Alaska to work in a carnival – so quite a change of subject from this effort.

Wish you started soon! One on India, perhaps?

I would love that! My good friend here, who was born in India but immigrated to Louisiana as a child, said he would like to go back to India and work six months in a call centre, then write a story about the experience. I think this would be a great book.

Sara Bongiorni is a writer and former business reporter. Her essays and articles have appeared in the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune and Shanghai Daily News, among others. She lives in Louisiana with her husband and three young children. ‘A Year Without ‘Made in China’ is her first book.