On January 12, 2004, the outgoing secretary of commerce Don Evans made a visit to China. Among other things, one of his major issues was asking China to stop product piracy, which is estimated to cost U.S. companies 3 billion dollars a year.
The number sounds alarmingly serious, but the reality is even far crueler. Product piracy and fraud in China is so widespread that it can be found almost everywhere, and in nearly all categories. As a popular saying describes, “everything is fake in China, only swindlers are true.”
The poster is meant as a joke, but sadly it also happens in real life. On January 15, China’s Quality News Network (http://www.cqn.com.cn) exposed the “Big Ten product quality frauds in 2004 (in China).” Below are some highlights:
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