A large amount of the Walmart type consumer retail goods we buy here in the US comes from China. Is it logical to think that some Chinese manufacturer is common-sensically marketing and selling this stuff in China for Chinese consumption, or are many of these consumer goods for export only?
In other words, do the Chinese have access to the same cheap (but relatively sophisticated) electronics and retail crap in their stores, that we have in ours, since it comes from them in the first place?
They do however many Chinese people are really, really poor so they still can’t afford much of it. There are thriving markets in China, Korea, etc. for tourists to buy even cheaper things than they can get at home. Those are available to everyone although I don’t think the average citizens of those countries is sitting around smiling at his loads of electronic equipment although some of the more well-off ones might be.
Yes - not just US products, of course, but the rest of the world too.
Chinese markets are chock-full of knock-off and copied stuff. Some of the knockoffs are actually rebranded products earmarked for export. Some of it is Chinese brand crap. But it’s cheaper than you can possibly believe. The problem is knowing which is real and which is fake. But the Chinese have more consumer products available to them than anywhere else on earth, IMO. But they have an awful lot less money too.
Last time I was there I had peasant women chasing me down the street trying to sell me 2Gb memory cards. When I was there in 1995, they’d have been trying to sell me corncobs.
A huge amount of consumer goods made in China go from the factory, straight into a container, and then transported to the US or elsewhere. China has only a small fraction of the distribution system of the US. Therefore, unfortunately, not a lot of the “for export” actually makes it into the Chinese distribution system.
For example, I’m trying to find some kid slides made out of plastic. The stuff everyone has in their backyard or rec room. A lot is made in China, but the only stuff you can find are actually imports from the US. Or it’s Chinese stuff exported to the US and then reimported to China.
Why wouldn’t they sell it in China? The real answer is that Americans just can’t comprehend how much of the world’s production is fueled by their wealth, and how incredibly wealthy they are, even the poor ones. Whatever item you’re thinking of may seem “cheap” to you because you make at least six odd yanqui dollars an hour, a fortune compared to the majority of the world’s population.