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What I would truly like to know is what's with those crazy names? A Tired Child? Why do the Chinese come up with such strange names for stuff?
And more importantly - how is it possible the Chinese come up with a Hanzi for literally everything new that appears?
Just wanna say spot on. Fantastic post. That's all.
And more importantly - how is it possible the Chinese come up with a Hanzi for literally everything new that appears?
OP: interesting rad. You'll find two or three other Floungers live in China, I believe. I am based in the UK myself, but I spend up to a month, collectively, in China - specifically, Beijing - every year in connection with my work at the university. My impression of China has long been that they're on the same curve as the West - just as owning a car, fast fashion, and other things were big here in the eighties and nineties, China is now enjoying that form of prosperity; I very much suspect that over the next decade we'll see them shift in favour of durability, quality, environmental responsibility.... even if mainly in the interests of profit over anything else.
I'll be interested to hear what your experience of tony Leathers is. At the price they are charging relative to the local market, they should be able to equal at least Schott level - or exceed it, if they're custom building rather than production line. The main thing will be the ensure no corners have been cut in terms of the quality of components, but again there's no need to assume that they will definitely do that. They've been building high end electronics for years; now they're increasingly making high quality guitars. Once, Japanese guitars were laughed at; now they build a better Gretsch than ever the US did. Then cheap guitars moved to being built in Korea, and they were laughed at - until Korea became the new Japan. And now China is fast becoming the new Korea.... All they need is the spec and the budget, and they can equal anywhere else in the world.
As for the old stereotype that the Chinese can copy but not innovate, well.... There was some basis in that at a time: thousands of years of a culture where copying the master was revered as a way to learn. (Still a problem for enforcing intellectual property). That said, much as has long been the case with Japan, very often the best that China has to offer is simply never seen outside China because the West doesn't want it. In much the same way, Westerners used to point at Japanese guitars and say they were just staid copies of Western designs, while missing that the Japanese were making some extremely far-reaching stuff, but it just didn't sell in the West because Western players only wanted more of the same. One of the most fascinating things I've seen in China was a copy of an iPhone which actually vastly improved on the original in almost every conceivable way. My current handset is a OnePlus 2 - OnePLus, a Taiwanese company, are now onto the Mk 5, but my three year old Mk 2 is still a better spec than most iPhones, and an original design, not a copy. The limitations o Chniese and Far Eastern production more generally are not local but rather pertain to Western Market demand.
That's the thing. People in the West have gotten so used to buying everything for practically nothing, that in order to satisfy market demand for low price, quality had to give eventually. DMs took the production of their standard boots to China because they market refused to pay hat British labour cost; over time, to keep the price the same, the cost of material was cut again and again, and now they're nothing. The Chinese can make whatever you want - at a price. If you want the lowest possible price, they can make it down to the spec too; you want good, you have to pay for it.
That's the difficult bit; remember, you're dealing with an ancient civilisation with a very different cultural approach to intellectual property. It'll take a while. Of course, as the Chinese brands themselves become more valuable, this too will change.
Some of the best shoes ever I had made were done by a shop on Gulou East Street, just a few doors from the Mao Livehouse in Beijing (running East from the Drum and Bell Towers). I had the hlpe of a local colleague on the phone who also collected them for me after they were made (took two weeks). Beautiul shoes, fit like a glove. I'd have a whole lot more made there if I manage to get organised enough and once I've cleared out the flat properly! Cost me GBP110 in 2009; at the same time, comparable Loakes were around £190 in the UK.
There's certainly something of a lack of health and safety concept in China (though that'll come), and often public project are done on the cheap. nonetheless, they'll get there. Brands like Bronson and Bob Dong are closing in on the Japanese stuff. Be interesting to see how they would do if somebody were to set up an import business here and market them.
Just wanna say spot on. Fantastic post. That's all.