What did Mattel do to stop the toys? by Fons Tuinstra of China Herald:
Even a hundred TV-shows cannot hide that something is seriously wrong in the way quality control is done in this country. And yes, there is now a fair amount of China-bashing going on, but that is very well deserved China-bashing. But the question what Mattel, and other companies, have been doing to stop this scandalous export of faulty products is a question that is all too easy ignored. Of course it is awful that millions of American children might be in danger when they bite on their toys, but has anybody already looked after the thousands of Chinese workers who have been painting those toys? They must have been exposed to much higher dangerous levels of lead than any of the children involved... It is shocking to see that Mattel get almost the role of a victim, instead of that of at least a fellow conspirator.
Something in the Air by Austin Ramzy of the TIME China Blog:
Not everyone was as happy as the cab drivers, who relished seeing traffic reduced by a third. I overheard some grousing by car owners whose vehicles were grounded by the temporary restrictions, though most seemed to take it in stride. But while the traffic flow has improved immensely, the gray air seems unchanged. According to the official air pollution index, the capital clocked a 95 for today, the last day of the test. That means the city's air is officially "good," though it's just six points out of the "lightly polluted" category. The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau announced yesterday that recent weather conditions hadn't helped the pollution situation, but that the car restrictions had limited the level of nitrogen oxide. If not for the restrictions, the air would have been worse, the bureau said.
When the big guns fail, call in China, by Julian Delasantellis for the Asia Times:
If the US does allow China to bail it out of a mess solely of its own creation, the US will prove itself less of a world superpower and more of a poor, hapless junkie walking into a pawnshop, desperate to sell another bit of its hard-earned family heritage built up over 200-plus years for just one more fix of plasma TVs, MP3 players, Barbie dolls and all the rest of the catalogue of cheap Chinese manufacture on which Americans are now hooked.
Photo of Chinese barbie from Sagespot.
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Posted
Aug 20 2007, 12:38 PM
by
Shanghaiist