China Law Blog

Wang Feng, CB:
Couldnt agree with more.
Couple things I want to add here.
It will take many years and concerted efforts from all sides before the mess can be cleaned up. " Losing face" is just an excuse from Chinese government offcials to escape their responsibilities. These officials are quite skilled at finding scapegoats, like these Shan'xi government officials blamed kiln factory owners for the slavery labor abuse while totally forgetting their roles of taking bribes and "operation costs".

The government is to blame as much as these involved in making and selling these tainted/toxic/fake products. The food/drug/environment safety standards in China are either low compared with those of developed countries or not well executed. The "toxic" toothpaste scandal is a good exmaple here. Apparently Diethylene glycol is permitted as an additive by Chinese standard but not American standard.

Also sometimes those people involved in making and selling tainted/toxic products are victims too. Unlike western countries where food is largely produced by large farms, grocery and restaurant chains or MNCs, Chinese farmers mainly operate by themselvers. They normally dont have insurance on their products and their livehood is largely affected by natural or human disasters. For example fish farmers can'nt control water quality, they sometimes have to add antibiotices to fish food to negate the potential negative effects of water pollution or fish diseases. Same can be said for other agricultural products. Chinese farmers mainly rely on the harvests to pay for daily living expense and kids' education. They will do whatever They can to maximize their income.
Low income chinese peasants/migrant workers are the main victimes of these bad/fake products. You will never see fake baby formulas appear on the shelves of Carrefour in Beijing.And the deaths due to fake drugs or food poisoning mainly happen in rurual villages or thrid tier cities.
While sometimes I disagree with the views of some foreigners on China. The reality is Chinese governement takes their inputs more seriously than those of us " bona fide" Chinese. I dont care whether their intention is to " ruin the image of China" or to help "poor" Chinese. The international pressure should continue to be put on Chinese government as Chinese people will only benefit from this

This post reminded me of a WSJ article I read a few months ago -- . As Wang Feng points out, the food/drug safety issue is (at least in part) symptomatic of a larger, more systemic problem -- the issue of central governance and accountability.

The WSJ article states, in part:

"[W]hile China's government still calls its system socialist, and still plays a big role in the economy, what has developed here sometimes resembles a sort of naked capitalism, where an unfettered pursuit of profit governs almost all facets of life, and a growing share of the population is left unprotected . . .
Widespread official graft persists despite a multiyear crackdown. In the countryside, local officials frequently conspire with developers to buy land from subsistence farmers at cut rates. Some nominally public schools charge prohibitively steep tuition. State-owned companies are among the biggest polluters. Even upright local officials, knowing that promotions depend on their success in boosting local economies, often defy directives that conflict with the goal of growth at all costs."

The food safety facet of the larger governance issue is particularly germane to the international community because, in this realm (and, I guess others) China is 'exporting' this problem.

I also thought Wang Feng's reference to China's legal system was particularly astute. If consumers do not have confidence that they will receive a full and fair hearing on their claim, they are much less likely to bring one. This hurts China, in a [big?] way--active consumers that have the appropriate tools to enforce the law provide an additional layer of product quality oversight -- I guess that goes whether the end 'product' is tires and food, fresh air and clean water, or education and housing.

This post reminded me of a WSJ article I read a few months ago --. As Wang Feng points out, the food/drug safety issue is (at least in part) symptomatic of a larger, more systemic problem -- the issue of central governance and accountability.

The WSJ article states, in part:

"[W]hile China's government still calls its system socialist, and still plays a big role in the economy, what has developed here sometimes resembles a sort of naked capitalism, where an unfettered pursuit of profit governs almost all facets of life, and a growing share of the population is left unprotected . . .
Widespread official graft persists despite a multiyear crackdown. In the countryside, local officials frequently conspire with developers to buy land from subsistence farmers at cut rates. Some nominally public schools charge prohibitively steep tuition. State-owned companies are among the biggest polluters. Even upright local officials, knowing that promotions depend on their success in boosting local economies, often defy directives that conflict with the goal of growth at all costs."

The food safety facet of the larger governance issue is particularly germane to the international community because, in this realm (and, I guess others) China is 'exporting' this problem.

I also thought Wang Feng's reference to China's legal system was particularly astute. If consumers do not have confidence that they will receive a full and fair hearing on their claim, they are much less likely to bring one. This hurts China, in a [big?] way--active consumers that have the appropriate tools to enforce the law provide an additional layer of product quality oversight -- I guess that goes whether the end 'product' is tires and food, fresh air and clean water, or education and housing.

On the note of food quality in China, check out

It is a story about the 60% cardboard to 40% fatty meat filling of baozi, a popular street food in Beijing.

Chopped cardboard is soften with "industrial chemicals" before being mixed into the fatty meat and powdered seasoning and used as filling for fluffy white steamed buns.

Not as bad as eating cardboard (well, for some people), but equally disturbing, is last month's report in That's Beijing about pork being substituted for mutton by many chuan(r) sellers.

As a Beijing resident, all this news is giving me a tummy ache.

wk --

Thanks for checking in and thank you also for your very astute analysis. You are absolutely right that it is not generally at the Carrefours in Beijing or Shanghai that these problems are found, which mean they fall disproportionatly on the poor.

The same is true in the United States. With all due respect, I feel pretty safe buying my food at Whole Foods, yet I know things might very well be different at other stores.

Wendy --

Thanks for bringing in that WSJ article. It fits. I see the US courts as a bigger enforcer of product safety over here than the government and I suspect that until China's legal system reaches the point where it really hurts a company financially to produce defective products, defective products will continue to be produced in abundance.

Life in China is cheap. Of cheap things it is the cheapest. Until that changes, no food coming out of China can be considered safe.