Book Review


On our way to Hokkaido, the spouse saw this book at the airport. It was screaming "BUY ME! BUY ME!" Interestingly, such a book with such a title, selling in China. We decided to grant its request and it opened our eyes to a whole new world. It enlightened us to all the problems we faced while living in China.

It is 245pages thick, I shall not talk about the whole book but share with you some of the experiences which I could relate to the writer's own experiences.

1) Sample. They worked best with samples given to them. So true. When I first arrived, I was told that tailoring is cheap and good here…BUT you must provide the samples. I have tailored a dress from scratch. I had to have it altered. I gave them an old dress and told them to follow exactly. It came out perfect. (Please read what I am not writing) *wink*

2) Changing the specifics. They love to make changes without first informing you even if you are the paying customer. A friend went to custom make some curtains. She chose the fabrics, the design and paid the deposit. On the day of delivery, the staff came to her house to put the curtains up. She was shocked! The fabric wasn't what she had chosen. She called the shop, the owner told her, "we ran out of that fabric you wanted so I chose this one which is much better than yours."
Just like what the author said. He was helping an importer who manufactured body wash. His job was to make sure they follow the order. While spot-checking, he realised that the lavender body wash did not smell like lavender, it was almond. He asked the factory owner why the change. "Oh, the workers and I felt that almond smell better than lavender!"

3) Nice on the outside, poor on the inside. The author stayed in a 5 stars hotel, among the finest in the city. He woke up one day to find the flush system was not working. Even after calling to have it fixed, it was still not working… I had my fair share of experiences. Perhaps, some of you have read it in my much earlier post in 2009/10. Our first  rented house was supposed to be the finest, choice of top executives but, things were slowly falling apart. First the pipe in the kitchen then the air-con then the roof then….

This is a great book to read, sometimes it makes me cry because the things they do are just so funnily-incorrigible. Sometimes it plunges me into deep thinking…
"When an importer told a retail buyer that an item was quoted at US65 cents and Made in USA, the buyer figured it could be purchased somewhere else cheaper. When the same product was quoted at US65 cents and was said to have been made in China, the buyer figured it could not be found for any less."

So, you see it is all a mind game.

Title : Poorly Made in China
Author : Paul Midler
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons, Inc.