My dog almost died because of the Chinese putting melamine in dog food to boost the protein levels required by law. He is now blind and it is unclear if it was caused by the melamine or something else. He has intestinal issues to this day, which are most likely caused by that attempt at cutting costs and bypass regulation in China. Many other pets here in America died from it.
Believe or not a Chinese producer did the same thing with baby formula milk!
Don't get me started on the many issues that lack of oversight and uncaring cost cutting with no regarding to public safety over there:
- Bought a Chinese tractor PTO driveshaft that wouldn't go on the PTO splines. My brother and I spent 3-4 hours trying to figure out what the problem was. It turned out an internal component of the quick release mechanism was installed backwards. 3-4 hours of two people clearly wiped out any cost savings of buying Chinese.
- Neighbor bought a thistle seed bird feeder because she loved how every time she visit my yard it was full of beautiful finches and other colorful birds, yet she lived right next door and there were very few birds visiting her wonderfully landscaped, two ponds and a swimming pool yard with full bar pool house (great place!). She bought a Chinese thistle seed bird feeder, filled it up and waited for the birds to come. They never came. We were both puzzled. After weeks I was enjoying a BBQ in their little slice of paradise they created and the bird issue came up. I was looking a their bird feeder and noticed something that almost dropped me to my knees with laugher. The Chinese manufacturer put the perch for the bird to stand on "above" the holes for them to feed out of!
She tossed it in the trash and bought another one and the birds filled her yard with beauty and cheerful tweeting.
- A company my brother worked for while building power plants made the cost savings mistake of buying D-rings made in China. Some accountant saved a few dollars and thought he was a doing the right thing for the companies bottom line. The D-rings turned out to be made of improper materials and didn't meet the weight carrying specifications stated on them. Thousands of dollars of equipment and was destroyed and lives put at risk from falling equipment. The end result was a complete ban on Chinese manufactured D-rings from all worksites, no exceptions!
- Many probably have heard of the sulfur used as filler in Chinese manufactured drywall, shipped to America and installed in homes; only to have to be removed at huge expense, both legal and other.
It's sad that we have to make broad assumptions regarding Chinese manufacturing and quality control, but there is good reason for those broad opinions. You can't really know who is doing what over there...