On October 14, over 180 quality supervision staff and some 30 public security officers pounced upon 30-odd shoddy product factories, closing down 29 of them. Among the shoddy products seized were fax machines, motor cars, garments and detergents, packaged to resemble internationally famous brands. Li Chuanqing, director of the State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, and Zhong Qiquan, vice-governor of Guangdong Province, took command of the action.

This raid took Chaoyang City as the focus, as it is one of the 30 key targets in the anti-shoddy products campaign launched by the State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision. In recent years, the Chaoyang government has attached great importance to cracking down on shoddy products and achieved obvious results. However, the campaign cannot be accomplished in one stroke.

Located in Lugang Town, Chaoyang City, the Dongwei Motorcar Co. Ltd is the biggest of its kind in eastern Guangdong Province. Inside the magnificent workshop, however, the factory sheltered several hundred shoddy motorcars bearing fake "Suzuki" and "Honda" names. According to information, the cars were illegally assembled by the Dongwei Company using shoddy parts and miscellaneous engines.

Another new trend detected by the police is a combination of shoddy product manufacturing and smuggling. Around the Guiyu Town government offices, five shoddy product manufacturers were tracked down. In the disguise of civil residences, these places sheltered shoddy fax machines bearing the brands of Matsushita, Sanyo and Sharp, together with false guarantee cards and permits. Most of the fax machines were assembled from smuggled old machine parts.

More alarmingly, the equipment used for making shoddy products is becoming more advanced. Cosmetic packages imitating those of P & G can hardly be distinguished with the naked eye.

Director Li Chuanqing pointed out that the success of the anti-shoddy product campaign demands full awareness, a concrete responsibility contract system, the co-efforts of the various parties, the dismantling of local protectionism, encouragement of tipoffs and a thoroughgoing crackdown. Vice-Governor Zhong Qiquan said he believed that a mechanism against shoddy-product making must be established, including the fields of production, sales, consumption and currency.

(CIIC 11/01/2000)