There's lots of high quality Chinese stuff, too. Why do you say it as if quality and Chinese don't go together?

throwaway454664 15 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's an old stereotype - between 1990 and 2010 or so, Chinese manufacturing was usually seen as of a lower quality.

This was often unfair and incorrect even then, but it's clearly mad now. Chinese products run the gamut from the lowest to the highest ends in almost every consumer field. But some people hew to old stereotypes.

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bluGill 15 hours ago | parent [-]

50 years ago when I was a kid... Japan and Taiwan were known for making cheap junk. They shook the reputation.

Now I feel old - get off my lawn.

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throwaway383839 13 hours ago | parent [-]

I'm honestly happy for Japan, Taiwan, and China. It's great that they make cool stuff.

I just wish we still did too.

	▲	bluGill 8 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I'm not sure where you live, but it is reasonable to bet that "we" still does. The US manufactures more than it ever did - but the number of people working to manufacture stuff is way down (while population is way up), and so few people have visibility into what is being made. There is a lot of cool stuff made in the US. Whatever country you live in likely has a similar story.
	▲	platevoltage 7 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I remember when "Made in Taiwan" was a punchline. Now you buy a fancy motherboard it says "designed in Taipei, Manufactured in China"

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altern8 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

When I go to any store, the Chinese version is ALWAYS lower quality. I've yet to see the opposite.

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eru 16 hours ago | parent [-]

Where are you going to shop? And how do you know something is the 'Chinese version'? It's not like for example Apple advertises where they assemble their products.

For a concrete example, we get very good rice varieties specifically from certain parts of China. (But here in Singapore people also really care about rice. You generally can't buy good and fresh rice in the middle of the Polish countryside for example.) And, yes, for this product the 'Chinese' variety is superior to eg generic Thai rice.

I put 'Chinese' in scare-quotes, because just like you don't just drink 'French wine' when you know what you are doing, you don't just eat 'Chinese' rice.

For a lot of tea drinking paraphernalia, the most top of the line items also come from China. Even if you are into, say, Japanese tea.

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altern8 16 hours ago | parent [-]

I either look at the label or do research beforehand. I buy from all kind of places.

I wasn't thinking of agricultural products, but rather anything manufactured. As an example, appliances made in Germany will have a cord long enough that you can actually plug into the wall, while the one that's made in China will have a useless 10-centimeter cord that would force me to use an extension.

Your mileage might vary, this is just my experience, but it's been pretty consistent for a few decades, with things going downhill in the past I'd say 5 years or so.

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eru 15 hours ago | parent [-]

We are happy with our Miele appliances (washing machine, dryer, dish washer.) But we also have plenty of Chinese stuff that works well.

I've recently had kids, and I'm actually impressed at how much toys have improved in quality since I was a kid growing up in Germany. And, yes, most of these new toys come from China etc. By and large, they seem to be sturdier and last a lot longer, and are cheaper, too.

I'm especially impressed by the light-up shoes we bought. I guess you can blame that on general improvements in LEDs and battery technology in that specific case, maybe.

For what it's worth, I now live in Singapore, and we are very open on trade, so as a consumer you benefit from especially brutal competition.

	▲	altern8 15 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Could also be that if you're in Singapore you get better stuff. It's possible that European companies pick crappy, cheaper products that they have a higher margin on to cover importing and transport. I have no idea.

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alansaber 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Historically, they're lax on regulation. Hence the association with bad quality.

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eru 15 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Regulation doesn't have much to do with quality. For example, there's plenty of regulation to make food safe, but almost nothing about making your food high quality in the sense of taste and texture.

You get quality from competition and customers opening their wallets for quality.

Another example: Apple assembles some nice consumer hardware in China. Their quality doesn't depend on regulation.

	▲	alansaber 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The regulations often change the economics of production to favour improved quality/attempting to sell upmarket.

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altern8 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

And also have the proverb, “If you can cheat, then cheat”. I guess it's just part of their culture.