Made in China

I was wandering in a huge supermarket in USA (Costco).......We usually tend to have a look on the various products, and move ahead..........I don't know what struck into my mind, I thought let's see what country these products are made in??..........To my surprise, almost 99% of the products were made in China! You name any product, from buttons to 72” LCD Television, everything was made in China....Bicycle, pen, candles, clothes, CDs, dolls and whatever you can imagine, all made in China....Oh my God, this Play Station 3, a sophisticated and expensive machine.........What? This too made in China?.............To my greatest surprise, I bought a small statue of Lord Ganesha from home improvement section, which was all perfect in face, shape, size, fine detailing on 'Laddu' and the 'Mouse', even the left tusk was half 'broken'........That has to be made in India, there is no way one could match this perfection other than an Indian..........I can bet 100$ bill, that it is made in India.........Let's see?........I looked at the bottom of the statue and I was almost dead for what I saw...................Made in China!!!

How, why and when did this happen?? What is it with China, that others can't match? Why these products were not made in USA, Canada, England, Germany, Australia or India?? What is so special about China?? If it is price, why can't we Indians match that? If it is quality, why can't these developed nations beat that??

USA is a consumer's market........People love to buy buy and more buy....They love to buy so much, that their garage is full of their stuffs.........Now even a new trend has begun, they are renting spaces to store their goods. In a consumer's market like this, the giant companies like Walmart, Costco, Bestbuy, Target, K-mart........and many more, they all want to cater their customers. They must deliver cheap, they must deliver quality.....How could they accomplish these tough challenges? No way this could be done in USA. Here even a floor cleaner would charge more than 2000$ per month, which makes it impossible for them to cut the prices. So they started looking towards China, and China successfully delivered what they were looking for.

I am an Indian, and fortunately this ravenous trend of looking for cheap products couldn't succeed in my country. Few years back, there was flood of Chinese products in India too........bicycle, crackers, plastic goods and things like that........Some how (and for which I feel proud upon India and Indians), we don't want cheap products. These Chinese markets were a big fiasco in India. Whenever a consumer learns that this product is made in China, he prefers to dump it. India is a developing country, where people always want to buy things which could cost less, but still this “made in China virus” was not successful in India.

Thankfully in India we don't see made in China goods more often than USA. But now the next level question, why we Indians can't make products better and cheaper than China? When I wander in some USA market, why don't I see made in India goods?? Where we are lagging? This question is really grave, when I consider my nation's economy. We must find a solution for this. We got everything, resources, good technology, skilled workers, business education, and strong economy. We need to find a way to beat this market. We need to 'work' upon this challenge, where China is capturing all the developed nations market. I am sure, that if we work upon this issue, then we can beat this. All what is required, is some planing and reforms in business sector. And I am cocksure, we Indians are going to do that in near future.

Hypothetical Epilogue: I am walking in a supermarket in Beijing. Thought let's buy some instant noodles for tomorrow's breakfast. I pay in the cash counter, and without any intention, had a gander on the back side of the pack...It made me happy and my noodle even more tastier......it was written “Made in India” :)