Virtually everything nowadays seems to have that little "Made in China" label attached to it. Sometimes that can be a good thing – other times, not so much. So how do you know which products to go ahead and buy while living in or visiting China, and which ones to avoid? Unfortunately, experience is usually the best (if not the cheapest) teacher in this situation. Be that as it may, in an attempt to save a few headaches, we've compiled a list of some of the best and worst "Made in China" products you'll find here.

Best:

1) Electronics
While China may have a long way to go to catch up to the likes of Apple or GE, they've at least got a solid market for their Lenovo and Haier brands of electronics that keep people coming back for more. Lenovo bought the PC branch of IBM about five years ago, then, apparently deciding that it wasn't quite enough, bought the controlling stake in German electronics company Medion last year, and acquired CCE (Brazil) and Stoneware (United States) earlier this year. The company's success stems from their reputation for producing reliable PCs, most notably their ThinkPad (LePad in mainland China) line of laptops and IdeaPad tablet computers. Similarly, the present-day success of Haier is also due, in great part, to a joint venture contract it signed with Germany company Liebherr back in the mid-Eighties. At that time, the partnership led to the installation of high-grade manufacturing equipment and technology at the Haier factories in Qingdao, and, perhaps more importantly, the adoption of the same notoriously rigorous quality standards for which German manufacturers are so highly revered. Suffice it to say, the international partnership paid off: just last year, Haier officially sold the world's largest share of major appliances. Unfortunately, these two brands are not exactly representative of all Chinese electronics.

2) Custom Made Things
There is a reason why China is the land of custom made everything—it's so easy to find quality items (for the price anyway…) that are made to fit just to your specifications in pretty much any tiered city across the country. Custom made sunglasses for 70 RMB? Yes, please! From cobblers, with their display of handmade leather shoes, to the massive fabric markets with suits, dresses, and coats galore, China is the leader in combining decent materials with expert technique to produce the custom made product of your dreams—just be sure that you come prepared with detailed pictures and descriptions of what you want!

3) Traditional wares
You can't beat China when it comes to their traditional cultural items. Jade, silk, and tea are all heavily linked to the notion of being "Chinese", making them hugely popular souvenirs for tourists and expats alike. Jade (both nephrite and jadeite varieties) has long been considered one of the crowning achievements of Chinese cultural heritage. Most of China's jade comes from Zhenping in Henan Province, named the "Home of Jade" by China's Ministry of Agriculture. It's a huge industry that, according to The China Daily, produces over $100 million USD worth of jade products for both export and domestic use every year—and that's just the jade that comes from Zhenping! However, wherever a success is born, imitation is bound to follow; nowhere is this truer than with the booming market for fake jade. To ensure that you don't get conned, be sure to first test the jade: hold it in your hand for at least one minute (to warm it up), set it aside and then pick it up again a minute later—real jade will still feel cool (since it doesn't retain heat). Another popular purchase, Chinese silk is world renowned for its quality, particularly from such places as Hangzhou and Suzhou (which comes as no surprise when you consider that China was the birthplace of silk manufacturing way back around 3500 BC). Originally reserved for royalty, today, silk clothing and embroidery are available to all, and continue to be of the highest quality and, perhaps most importantly, fairly priced traditional goods in China. And let's not forget about China's other major cultural export—tea! Perfected after thousands of years of cultivation, high-quality teas of all kind can be found in cheap abundance in pretty much any city, town or village in China. And while there are some teas that would see you taking out a small loan to afford a single cups' worth (Pu'er comes to mind), the taste is certainly worth it—you'll never look at Lipton's the same way again.

4) Social Media
China knows its market, and its market loves the Internet. So it should come as no surprise that they've become pretty darn good at the whole social media thing, Facebook/Twitter ban not withstanding.  NetEase, with its ever-popular "Westward Journey Online" series, already has over eighty million users. And these days, it's hard to have not heard of QQ or Weibo if you've been in China more than a few minutes. Of course, many speculate that the popularity of Chinese branded social media is most likely because they don't actually allow many (or any) Western social media companies to compete, but regardless of the reason, the fact remains that China's online market continues to grow rapidly—so expect its social media to become even better (and more ubiquitous) as well.

Worst:

1) Chinese apparel brands
There is a reason Chinese apparel brands, such as Li Ning, are not household names outside of China. In fact, they still can't even really compete with brands such as Nike or Adidas within China. Part of this has to do with the ideas of branding and marketing, but it mostly has to do with the inferior quality of materials used and the tendency of these things to fall apart at a much quicker rate. While many fresh-off-the-boat expats jump over the idea of 50 RMB shoes, 100 RMB formal wear and 200 RMB winter coats, we all quickly learn that there's a reason everything is so cheap. And once we tire of lackluster craftsmanship, dingy materials and less-than-flattering sizes and cuts, many expats opt to do their shopping at H&M and Zara (if our city has one), or, more likely, wait until the next time we go back home to visit family to stock up on clothes.

2) Automobiles
It's no secret that Chinese car companies just can't seem to compete with the much bigger named Honda, Toyota, or GM. For example, even BYD, considered by some (Warren Buffett anyway) to be China's best car company only sells about 520,000 cars per year, making it the sixth largest Chinese car seller—pretty pithy when you consider that Toyota sells around nine million per year. That may explain why BYD likes to, um, borrow designs—to the point where car dealerships in China were replacing the BYD emblem with a Toyota Corolla emblem, because apparently the two cars look exactly the same. Not to say that that BYD is alone in its copycat shenanigans; pretty much every other major Chinese automobile manufacturer, such as Chery, Great Wall Motor, and Shuanghuan, have all been accused of copying designs from Honda, Mercedes Benz, and GM as well. In fact, GM went so far as to accuse Chery of using the car it was copied from, GM's Matiz, instead of its own model, in a crash test to achieve higher safety ratings! Preposterous as it may sound, from the Chinese car manufacturer's perspective, it actually kind of makes sense that they'd prefer to use other manufacturer's cars in place of their own for crash test ratings: after all, independent crash tests were only instituted in 2006, while a large number Chinese cars still regularly receive absolutely dismal safety ratings. And surprise, surprise—most automobile experts blame cost cutting for the lack of safety standards in China.

3) Really, any product meant for babies or children
Suffice it to say, China tends not to perform very well in the ten and under group. It seems that not a month goes by without some Chinese company making international headlines after their baby products are found to contain some sort of lethal stuff. From toxic chemicals on plastic cups and bottles to that horrendous melamine tainted milk powder scandal that started in 2008 (and seemingly continues even to this day?!), it would probably be better for everyone if China just stopped producing anything that could potentially be put in a child's mouth. And while it seems like almost every toy—plastic or otherwise—comes from China nowadays, they still don't seem to have a handle on that whole "no lead in the paint" rule. The massive toy recall by Mattel in 2007 may have represented the culmination of unsafe toy production methods, but The Global Post reports as recently as last year note that of all the toys made in China, one in three contain heavy metals and one in ten contain excessive levels of lead. Even Chinese-made bike frames sold at Western mega-retailers like Target posed a danger when they promptly snapped and/or fell apart while being ridden. Whoops. And speaking of bikes…

4) Bicycles
With all the cyclists here in China, you'd think that bike quality would be pretty high. Alas, companies like Dahon produce bikes that promptly start falling apart only months after they're purchased. Even the usually trustworthy Giant bicycles (made in Taiwan) that are sold within China seem to be of poorer quality than those exported elsewhere. Think you're safe buying brands that have foreign countries or nationalities in their names? You can find a plethora of "Dutch" or "USA" branded bikes in Chinese bike shops, all of which are actually made in China with the same inferior materials as Dahon and the like. No doubt, the notoriously cheap manufacturing of bikes these days is why there's a growing trend in bigger cities towards buying custom-built fixed gear bicycles (with parts often imported from Europe and Japan), as well as a growing interest in refurbished retro Flying Pigeon "Er Ba Che" bikes from fifty years ago…

 

Related links
Made in China: The Business and Appeal of Manufacturing in China
"Made in China" Foreign Brand Goods Cost Three Times More in China
Getting Custom Made Clothes in China: What You Need to Know

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