Sourcing & Import from China Tips and Guide

In the beginning there was Mu Zimei, who in late 2003, kicked off an international socio-sexual stir (”Sex, please! We’re young and Chinese!” screamed Time Magazine two years later) as the first Chinese woman to publicly blog about her sex life after she posted a snarky tale about her brief, unsatisfying doggy style tryst with would-be cock rocker Wang Lei in an alley outside a Guangzhou nightclub.

And Mu Zimei begat Furong Jiejie or “Hibiscus Older Sister” who, though decidedly unattractive, had the balls…er, ovaries and large tah-tahs to post assertive, silly hoohaw about herself while striking provocative, yet PG-rated positions online and enduring the parodies and sneers that resulted.

And Hibiscus Older Sister begat a knockoff version, Juhua Meimei (Chrysanthemum Little Sister) who in turn begat Liumang Yan, a middle aged blogger who bravely posed in the all together along with (obvious) advice on how to seduce men.

Late 2006, brings Hai Rong Tian Tian, a Hubei native and Tujia Chinese minority, who in addition to saucy poses, is soliciting pictures of (Soft only, please! We’re Chinese!) mens’ members. Since late October when she last counted, Hai had received more than 2,000 limp dick pics. And they keep rolling in, despite critical hits she’s taken on her blog. 

In a recent interview with China Youth Weekend, she talked about her obsession and what she hopes to learn from it. Essentially, she said, it’s about understanding the root of “men’s power.” (In another attempt at getting down the the heart of the matter, Hai said she also tried to work a week as a prostitute, but gave up after four days in which her only client was a “very skinny guy from Taiwan who wasn’t very experienced.” She’s also posted — but since removed — nude pictures of herself and her mother posing together.)

”I used to think about why women have such low status? Why young, beautiful, women in China have such low status. I thought it must come from the opinion of men,” Hai said. “And I wanted to find the root. Then I decided that the way they think of women is is only through sex. A typical Chinese man thinks a woman’s body is only for his penis, his joy. So I wanted to study the root.’

Her conclusion after viewing more than 2,000 soft noodles? “Penis worship is exaggerated.”

The pictures, she said, showed her that men are “not that powerful or authoritative. They actually made me feel impotent … not because I got tired after looking at 2,000 pictures … I feel the same when I see a penis in real life.”’

Hai said she solicited soft, rather than hard versions, for reality’s sake. “I think an erection is just a moment. I want to see how men are most of the time, but I may compare these pictures with erect ones in the future,” she said adding that she is looking for someone to help her stage an art exhibit based on her concept.

“An erect penis is a momentary power, it doesn’t make any huge change. It’s exaggerated.”

Hai isn’t anti-male, however and credits the men who’ve virtually exposed themselves to her as “very brave” and, despite some venonmous online comments, counts her readers and contributors as “friends.”

” I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she siad. “I am neither sexist nor feminist. Although I don’t have any penis worship feeling by looking at those pictures, I still respect men. I still love them,” she added laughing. “I don’t want to hurt them, I just want them to think.”

Hai called her Internet fans “bone ash fans” - meaning they will be friends until she dies and is cremated - and said she hopes sharing her body, feelings and intimate thoughts brings deeper feelings than simple lust or sheer hate.

As for her critics, Hai said she forgives them. They know not what they do.

” A lot of people left comments at my blog, like I should ‘eat shit.’” she said. “I realize that their reaction is not just because I did this, it is more because of their different cultural background which is something I can’t change. So I don’t care.

“What I brought to people, such as my body, my words, my music are very precious stuff coming out of my hard work.. I don’t need to bring out shit.

“I understand why they said that. They probably have to be very obedient in real life. Its okay for them to relieve themselves on the Internet. They just didn’t say that they had to kill me.”

Her Chinese Blog

By David F. 

Why source from
China for product/services? the answers are indeed clear-cut. China had been registering remarkable growth for the past 10 to 15 years even since she opened out her economy,
China had 1.2 billion in population and vast amount of lands and resources. Hong-Kong before 1997 was used as a hub to trade China products with the external worlds, goods and services from Taiwan until now still need to go thru Hong-Kong to transfer in to
China. That’s the reason why Hong-Kong with 90% of activities in finance and service sectors managed to maintain a reasonable rate of growth, Hong-Kong take advantages of cheaper labor and products from
China to keep her in balance 

With many Taiwanese/Japanese companies shifted part if not all of the production facilities to China,
China had the necessary low labor cost and well trained professionals to run the operation effectively and efficiently. 

Many Chinese Manufacturers had by-passed the middle man, like Hong-Kong and so on to deal with the foreign buyers to maximize their profit margins and minimizing the overheads. Many times, volume is the key factors to determine the cost and margins 

It wasn’t uncommon to have a manufacturer establish a production site in
China with in house cafeteria and dormitory to house the cheaper labor from poorer provinces. The wages are kept to the minimum and productivity at the maximum. The workers work shift  and overtimes to earn as much as possible as they put in long hours and spend minimum expenses on accommodation and meals as there are provided as part of the packages. 

Big corporation like Wal-mart, Toyota, Pepsi, Motorola cola just to name a few  all had operation set up in China to provide cheapest source of products/service to produce goods to retail at their pre-determined market segments like in US. Due to the massive scale, many things such as production control, logistic flow are customized of which most other smaller players couldn’t compete against with. 

These companies basically deal with the full range of products/services,  from textiles, footwear, electronics, heavy machinery, consumer products, dairy products, watches. Basically all the products that present in the modern day lifestyle. 

The key to this low cost high margin products sourcing from china is actually the volume and connections networks. Big guys establish their own chain of supplies and therefore they manage to bring in products to US for example, at cheaper cost price as compare as you were go to china yourself to get them. 

The way the merchandise getting change of hands to certain degree follow the theory of “the greater fool theory”, sometimes it doesn’t matter how much is your cost price even if it was on the high side, as long as there are someone else willing to pay for more you will make profits out of it,  

Everyone had to spend money to buy the things he or she needed in life, it ranges from the basic fundamentals to luxuries items, it was non-stop at the moment we were brought to life until we meet our creators, the whole cycle wasIn principal making money and spending money.  

In the world of merchandise getting change of hands, there are certain items which fetches higher premium due to the perceptions comes with it. The manufacturers spend billion of dollars on marketing and branding of which for those who needs such psychological fulfillment and satisfaction from getting the branded goods finds their desires being met.  

We all to certain extend fell prey into this, we wear only Seiko watch, put on Gap shirts and Levi Jeans, walk with Timberland shoes, put on Rayban sunglasses, drive only Toyota cars, snap pictures with only Nikon Camera and print them on the HP printers. So, what am I trying to say is we are were heavily influenced by the peers and advertisements from all sort of media. TV, billboards, signboards, radio, magazine, these information somehow registered in our subconscious minds and will influence our buying pattern. 

So, How did
China come into Pictures?
China closed itself to external world in 1960s, people were relocated against their wills. However, for the past 10 years things had dramatically changed where it opened its gate to the world. All of a sudden, many companies setup operation and manufacturing plant there to make use of the low cost of doing business. Many brands were created there and it’s domestic market was surely absorbing the goods and services before they are exported out to the rest of the world. 

If you follow me, you can easily foresee there the next branded goods might be just be created from
China, actually it’s already happening, like Lenova and Haier.  There are hundreds of thousands of small Original Design Manufacturers bringing out their newly innovative products into the domestic markets, and people like you and me who wanted to source from China directly but not committing to the volume and didn’t have the vast resources will definitely able to locate the items/services you have in mind in China. 

Language barrier is always an obstacle for effective sales enquiries and negotiation, the enforcements of good quality plan in manufacturing are critical to ensure goods are meeting the quality requirements. There are many agent in
China can help to overcome this problems. Agent who had already established networks and logistics flow can help you to minimize the unnecessary works in dealing with the suppliers at a flat fees. 

Bearing in mind that in
China, it is not the products that determine the cost but the price one willing to pay which will set the pricings, for example, one can procure a MP3 players with the lowest cost with minimum features or pay a premium for a MP3 players with all the fanciful functions.
China manufacturers can service you with the products that meet your requirements in terms of cost and quality. 

Not too long ago, a decent DVD players fetch a hefty price at the retails are now facing fierce competition from low range of DVD players of no-names which compete at 50% or even 20% lower on their selling price, Of course technologies advancement play an important part in the cost reduction but also consumer psychology which didn’t have as strong a rejection as before in buying no-name brands as long as the product meet their basic requirements. 

In
China, once you command a reasonable volume, you can have your own branding dealing with the OEM or ODM, where at the same time producing branded goods for their Tier-1 customers  are willing to offer their excess capacity to manufacture your orders at much lower cost. 

Sourcing in China is like dealing with a piece of artwork, what determines the fetching price of the artwork is a complicated dynamic formulas, the asking price is depended on the customer’s interest level, urgency and spending power, the negotiation skills and the competitions surroundings. With some basic networking which can be instantly establish with a reputable agent one can skillfully negotiate for the lowest cost price directly with the manufacturers which will ensure maximum profitability when one exchange hands to others. 

Just imagine that, on tourist attraction location which I am sure you experienced before, the same piece of hardware will cost you different price when enquire at different stores, the further away the stores located, the lowest the cost, the merchant deals with tourists like me and you everyday, they know when to strike a best deal out of you, basically there aren’t any fix pricing on the merchandise, it’s up to you to bargain. The bold one will often find themselves a great bargain if they know how to negotiate. But more often than not, the profits are remarkable by having an open pricing concepts rather than fix pricing. So long they got their merchandize at the lowest cost from the main distributors or manufacturers. 

Sourcing from
China effectively will guarantee you are having the maximum margin to sell your products using the same concepts as the merchant located at the tourist attraction areas around the world, so long you have the right products at the right time, people just wanted your stuff no matter how much you ask. It’s like the budget airlines, 2 person flying at the same plane sit next to each other might had paid different airfares. One who book 6 months ago on early bird promotion could be paying as little as 10% of what his neighbor had paid who just booked the flight the day before due to an urgent business trip. If the sitting capacity is around 75% or more, the airlines had already make profits by selling their tickets by bidding and by demands. You on the other hand can use the same strategy to maximize your profits margins so long you get your merchandize at the lowest cost price which can only be achieved thru sourcing them in
China with the right network. 

Author is the founding member of the of the “ http://www.china-import-guide.com 

david@china-import-guide.comAuthor is the founding member of the www,…..