Big Blu said:
this is some of the funniest sh$t I've read in along time! ::025:: ::025:: ::025::
Have y'all read about the global economy?
Do ya know China has a vehicle on the moon.... Germany hasn't done that yet, too many drive shaft, fuel strip, and switch gear failures!
Cars with the highest quality rating are manufactured in Asia, not Germany, not the USA!
Remember our beloved and reliable motorcycle is not made in the USA or in Europe.
Paul
::026::
Grow up people, China adopted the "New China" capitalist model over 20 years ago, and started opening up well before that. They also began adopting HUGE changes in just about every other aspect. It sure isn't paradise by western standards and the Asian (not just China) views are based in a very different value system. But the stereotypes from the pre-Nixon era are silly or scary ancient history and are from before many people here were born.
OK, so most people would rather not think of themselves as hypocritical even as they wear Chinese-made clothing, drive a car made in Mexico that would go no place without the Chinese content, buy nearly anything at Walmart or Kohls, etc. Even the Apple products made in the US have Chinese content, but don't think about that.
The fact is that we ALL base everything on our own perceptions and forget to think in relative terms. We were doing a job in Dalian and we had a couple of young police officers assigned to protect the worksite and wreckage. They loved to talk about families (like anybody anywhere in the world). The dad of the 18 year old was a rail laborer and the kid didn't want to do that. He had worked hard in school to become a cop, working his way out of a 1-room home with his entire family, to his own room in the police barracks, and expected to be able to move from there after a while. HE did that on his own. By choice. The story of the other guy in his mid 20s was more middle class that most of us would recognize. He grew up in a big apartment complex, did the barracks thing, and moved into an apartment with a couple friends.
The Communist Party at this point certainly is not the same as the political system in the west and that's not what I'm saying. But few in the US realize how Democratic it has become in China. I find their current "Communist" process roughly similar to the Electoral College used in the US to vote for a President. The reality for both is that common folks at the local level vote for representatives and those reps generally (here and there) carry their local constituents wishes forward. And before criticizing the Communist Party version of insiders and cronyism, look inward:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_United_States_Congress_by_longevity_of_service
Yup, those Chinese don't care about pollution. Ummm, actually the locals don't want to live in a polluted place either and started to change their laws a while ago. I lived in LA in the early 70s when we had good soupy brown air and things had started to change, which is about where the Chinese are. You may remember that there was a LOT of talk about it going into the Olympic games in China and it continues: "
In China’s war on bad air, government decision to release data gives fresh hope[/size]" http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-chinas-war-on-bad-air-government-decision-to-release-data-gives-fresh-hope/2014/02/02/5e50c872-8745-11e3-a5bd-844629433ba3_story.html
Well, they are a repressive government controlling their people, right? Look, they aren't up to the west yet on allowing big open air demonstrations. But it sure is coming. Labor camps? Actually that's North Korea - Dennis Rodman can't get that kind of attention in China. It's because China has been shutting down the labor prisons for a while now. Prison for any crime? China is #124 on this list and I never have the "being watched" feeling in China that I have in the US since 9-11.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate
Look, the place isn't Kansas and comes from a different outlook. But people there are able to make their own choices and many split the country life for the cities because there is more money to be made. So many that it created what is probably the bulk of their current issues. And China adopted a no-Visa travel policy nearly 20 years ago. In fact, this headline is from their standpoint . . .
"
[/size]North America most dangerous destination for Chinese[/size]"
As for tires and other products, China has historically had two tiers of products. Stuff made for internal China sales has been notoriously worse than for export. People in the west learned that the internal products were cheaper and you can find lots of it in flea markets. Cheap fuses for the car or bike actually can catch fire. Some of the car tires that have made it to the US are downright scary.
However, the western companies who manufacture in China brought their quality systems. There's a good chance that your blood pressure meds came from a factory on the edge of Dalian. Metzeler is a reputable company and that's why I'd have no problem buying one of their tires, no matter where it was made.
