# Are there any products that China is known for manufacturing BETTER than other countries? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 23, 2020, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832 "2020-01-23T03:13:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/1 "2020-01-23T03:13:19Z")
I realize that “Made In China” no longer universally implies inherently low quality, the way it did in previous decades. While there are still a lot of poor quality items produced in China, it seems to be generally accepted that manufacturing and quality control for export goods in that country is improving. What I’m wondering is, are there any items where “Made In China” is an _unambiguously_ good descriptor? I’m thinking along the lines of Germany and cars, Switzerland and precision machinery, Italy and clothing, France and wine or food, Cuba and cigars - that’s starting to get more niche, but I’m thinking there has to be some niche product that the Chinese actually do _better_ than other countries, right? Is there such an item? And please don’t say “ancient pottery.” ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/2 "2020-01-23T03:38:38Z")
I don’t know the details of the field, but China is trying to surpass the US in artificial intelligence. Baidu beat out Google and microsoft on some AI language test recently for example. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/3 "2020-01-23T04:28:16Z")
I don’t know if this qualifies as a “product” in the sense that the OP was thinking of. But in the last few years, China has done very well in building supercomputers. > [@](#): > > The TOP500 project ranks and details the 500 most powerful non-distributed computer systems in the world. The project was started in 1993 and publishes an updated list of the supercomputers twice a year. . . . > > China currently dominates the list with 229 supercomputers, leading the second place (United States) by a record margin of 121. > **[TOP500](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOP500)** > > The TOP500 project ranks and details the 500 most powerful non-distributed computer systems in the world. The project was started in 1993 and publishes an updated list of the supercomputers twice a year. The first of these updates always coincides with the International Supercomputing Conference in June, and the second is presented at the ACM/IEEE Supercomputing Conference in November. The project aims to provide a reliable basis for tracking and detecting trends in high-performance computing a... ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/4 "2020-01-23T04:38:02Z")
China has always - I mean ALWAYS, they invented the stuff - been known for manufacturing really excellent porcelain and silk products. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/5 "2020-01-23T04:39:02Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > Is there such an item? And please don’t say “ancient pottery.” Modern pottery. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/6 "2020-01-23T05:16:51Z")
The catch with any oversea manufacturing, not only China is that they have the technology and equipment to make top notch products, but are often not incentivized to do so because of the association and demand for low cost products. Like Japan in the '60’s, China could easily start making market leading products especially electronics, and are slowly making headway in certain categories. Software - In the software realm, DVDFab, in it’s various editions, DVD, Blu-Ray, UHD, is the standard for optical disc ripping software. LCD and OLED panels - Look at this Wikipedia [article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flat_panel_display_manufacturers) and most of the LCD and OLED panels (only) are made in China. _Panels_ is the key word. The electronics in high end LCDs and OLEDs are proprietary to the manufacturer, but the panels in some high end, though usually not the state of the art HTDVs may come from China. Solar Panels - A large solar company I worked for switched to Chinese solar panels, claiming that they were as good as or better than anything made in the U.S. How much of that is marketing hype and how much is true, I never knew. But after years of undercutting the market (in which it’s widely speculated China purposely price undercut), Chinese panels are rising in price, potentially leading to even better quality products. Blank DVDs - CMC Manufacturing, based in Taiwan with factories in China makes the majority of blank DVDs on the market ranging from crappy, to marginal to top quality. Price and brand name (most of the brand name discs are second tier discs from CMC) have little to no bearing on the quality of the discs. The last two proven quality blank DVD manufacturers, Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim, bot based in Japan, have closed their Japan factories and sold their proprietary formulation data to CMC who now continues to produce these top quality discs in their factories. Beware as other manufacturers, possibly CMC themselves are selling counterfeit Taiyo Yuden (which are very hard to find in the U.S.) discs. Even when Verbatim was still making their own discs (some by CMC under their strict direction), they sold CMC’s second tier discs under the Lifestyle label. Now, the situation has gotten far worse and it’s extremely difficult tell the the true top quality Verbatim AZO discs from the second tier generic ones. If you’re still buying blank DVDs, read this [thread](https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/391272-Beware-of-new-Verbatim-non-AZO-packaging) I started at [videohelp.com](http://videohelp.com) on how to spot the true top quality Verbatim AZO discs. Currently the ONLY top tier blank DVDs readily available in the U.S. and most countries. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/7 "2020-01-23T05:20:35Z")
Mulberry silk. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/8 "2020-01-23T05:22:22Z")
I’ve talked about his before. I had a friend whose father owned a cell phone accessories factory in Taiwan. They made top quality products, but on demand would skimp on component quality or sometimes leave them out completely to save costs. I don’t know how widespread knowledge of this was outside of cell phone retailers, but in the early 2000’s, people’s phones were fried because some car chargers left out the protective fuse that was supposed to blow if there was a surge through the cigarette lighter jack. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/9 "2020-01-23T06:19:51Z")
Oh…Chinese women! 😃 "manufacture noun man·​u·​fac·​ture | \ ˌman-yə-ˈfak-chər , ˌma-nə- Definition of manufacture (Entry 1 of 2) _ **3: the act or process of producing something** _ the manufacture of blood goes on constantly in the human body — Morris Fishbein" Source: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manufacture](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manufacture) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/10 "2020-01-23T06:57:04Z")
Any PC, laptop, cell phone, gateways, routers, etc. These are not manufactured anywhere else. I work for one of the largest manufacturing companies on the planet, if not the largest. The range of products made in China is breathtaking. Most of these products are not made outside of China, or else are SKD’s (semi knock down kits) that are simply assembled elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/11 "2020-01-23T07:39:16Z")
They’re VERY good at producing Chinese babies. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/12 "2020-01-23T07:59:10Z")
Anecdotal, but… I use to perform vibe testing for commercial and military customers. One customer was an engineer at a diesel engine manufacturer located in the U.S. The oil in their engine was cooled using an “oil cooler.” They had always purchased the oil coolers from a domestic manufacturer for $120 each. But a manufacturer in China recently offered them the same oil cooler design for $25 each. The engineer provided me 5 oil coolers made by the domestic manufacturer and 5 oil coolers made by the manufacturer in China. I tested each on my electrodynamic shaker using some aggressive random vibe profiles. Three of the five oil coolers from the domestic supplier started leaking during testing, and thus failed. None of the oil coolers made in China failed. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/13 "2020-01-23T08:01:26Z")
Again, not sure if this counts as a product, but _infrastructure_: I’m not sure if the Chinese build “the best” roads (or even what that would mean), but I think at this point many people worldwide are well aware that China builds top notch highways, bridges, dams, railways\*, network infrastructure etc pretty damn quickly. Yes, we can be cynical about their reasons for building such infrastructure outside China. But irrespective of that, they have a good reputation for this kind of construction. If I lived in Somewheredia, and I heard that China was going to build some freeways in my country, I would have no concerns about it taking too long or being of shoddy quality. - I’m aware that high-speed rail is collaborative with countries like Germany > [@lingyi](#): > > The catch with any oversea manufacturing, not only China is that they have the technology and equipment to make top notch products, but are often not incentivized to do so because of the association and demand for low cost products. Like Japan in the '60’s, China could easily start making market leading products especially electronics, and are slowly making headway in certain categories. Well, I would say that it’s not that the big manufacturers don’t make high-end products, it’s that they captured market share on the low end and are not about to surrender that to capture the high-end market. So you want a huawei phone for $60, sure, they make those. How about one for $500 with foldable screen? Yep, got those too. So they are never going to become famous for only the high-end. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/14 "2020-01-23T08:28:05Z")
China dominates the high end printing market. When [Modernist Cuisine](https://modernistcuisine.com/books/modernist-cuisine/) was trying to print their original, 50+lb tome, they found only Chinese printers had the capabilities to produce what they were looking for. Almost all high end [bibles](https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/october/bible-made-in-china.html) are printed in China as features like gold embossed edges and thinner pages aren’t possible anywhere else in the world. ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/15 "2020-01-23T08:39:27Z")
Fentanyl ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/16 "2020-01-23T19:27:15Z")
Along the same lines as high-end printing, in an even more niche market, board game production. There are boutique board game and component manufacturers in the U.S., but for producing at any sort of scale, China’s pretty much the only game in town. OTOH, “Made in China” isn’t really a badge of quality for a board game or board game components, it’s just basically the only badge available. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/17 "2020-01-23T20:36:32Z")
Drones DJI drones are the best consumer videographers buy. I am sure there is some other niche manufacturer of drones out there that makes $10,000+ ones for specific purposes, but I am talking in general. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/18 "2020-01-23T21:38:56Z")
Maybe I’m missing the OP’s question, but I thought it was really implying “I’m thinking there has to be some niche product _**(where there are competitors)**_ that the Chinese actually do better than other countries, right?” If there’s no competition, it doesn’t mean China does it well, it only means that they do it at all. I’d think the best place to look would be at goods that aren’t being produced in China because they are industrialized and have cheap labor; that’s not the recipe for high quality. Unfortunately, I don’t know what sorts of unique items China produces that would be synonymous with quality. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/19 "2020-01-23T22:03:05Z")
After horrible experiences buying these Chinese made products from Amazon, I realized that I would never buy a product that I cared about that was manufactured in China and in China itself there is little incentive to put quality over profit. > **[Amazon.com: MthsTec External Bluray DVD Drive, USB 3.0 and Type-C Blu-Ray Burner...](https://www.amazon.com/External-MthsTec-Blu-Ray-Optical-Compatible/dp/B07SZKNRF2)** > > Buy MthsTec External Bluray DVD Drive, USB 3.0 and Type-C Blu-Ray Burner DVD Burner 3D Slim Optical Bluray CD DVD Drive Compatible with Windows XP/7/8/10, MacOS for MacBook, Laptop, Desktop: Blu-ray Drives - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on... The stylus that holds the discs in the player broke off taking out the first disc I put in it. Putting a disc in it gave a 50% chance the disc would actually start playing. It was noisy. It was hard to eject discs from it because the machine wouldnt recognize the command. > **[Amazon.com: MP3 Player, 16GB MP3 Player with Bluetooth Speaker, AGPTEK Touch...](https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-BERENNIS-Portable-Lossless-Recorder/dp/B08L4TZRBN)** > > Amazon.com: MP3 Player, 16GB MP3 Player with Bluetooth Speaker, AGPTEK Touch Button Lossless Music Player with FM Radio, Voice Recorder, Independent Volume Button, Expandable up to 128GB, Blue : Electronics This MP3 player was very difficult to figure out how to work and the headphone jack broke after a week. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RGJZ7YP/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_asin\_title\_o06\_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RGJZ7YP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) This usb powered air conditioner looked good on the web site but it was tiny, under powered and the usb stopped working after a couple weeks. I will never buy a Chinese manufactured product again sold by a company I have never heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832/20 "2020-01-23T22:14:44Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Maybe I’m missing the OP’s question, but I thought it was really implying “I’m thinking there has to be some niche product _**(where there are competitors)**_ that the Chinese actually do better than other countries, right?” > > If there’s no competition, it doesn’t mean China does it well, it only means that they do it at all. You’re correct. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-products-that-china-is-known-for-manufacturing-better-than-other-countries/846832.md?page=2)