It's no secret that when you come to visit China you're gonna run into a bunch of fake goods. The Silk Road Market in Beijing (well-known for its fake goods and rip-off prices) is sometimes the first stop for visitors instead of the Great Wall. I admit I've bought my fair share out here in Xinjiang - clothes, DVD's, books, and even a cell phone. I knew when I bought them that they weren't good quality and wouldn't last very long, but the price was too good to pass up. The Chinese know this too - on average most consumers buy a new cellphone every 9-12 months. Until yesterday it never really occurred to me to ask what happens to all the used cell phones and fake goods that have run their short-term course.
Last Friday officials from various government bureaus in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi organized a campaign to destroy fake and low-quality products. I gotta give them some credit, though, cause they didn't just destroy the goods, they had some fun doing it...I'm talking about gasoline, flame throwers, and steamrollers here! Not a bad way to celebrate World Consumer Rights Day last March 15th.
They divided the doomed goods into 15 different categories ranging from clothes, hats, and shoes to electrical appliances and scrap building materials. It took a total of 19 military vehicles to transport all of this stuff to the Dongshan City Dump in Urumqi where it was then doused with gasoline and ignited with a flamethrower. I can feel the men of the world uniting right now with a collective grin. How I wish I could have been there myself to see it!
Nearby, another campaign was underway to get rid of fake cell phones. Over 12,000 cell phones representing 168 different "shanzai" brands were lined up and run over by a steamroller. I'm happy to say that I didn't have to donate my cell phone to the cause...although I gladly would have switched mine with some of those newer-looking phones in the picture below.
They estimated the value of all these goods destroyed at just around 32 million RMB (US$4.68 million). I was pretty impressed until I realized the one item I didn't see in this whole campaign: the pirated DVD. It's not like Xinjiang doesn't have any, I promise you that! They could have used the discs as target practice for skeet shooting or something, but I guess when the leaders just saw all the good flicks that were going to be destroyed they scooped it up for themselves.
This whole thing made me wonder, though, as a foreign resident of China: if officials went through my apartment and burned everything that was fake, how big would the party outside my apartment be? How big would yours be?
Anyway, just wanted to wish everybody a Happy World Consumer Rights Day from Xinjiang, China!
Source:
iyaxin.com: 新疆查处全国假劣手机第一案 涉案1.2万部手机 (Chinese)
(h/t CRIEnglish.com)
6 Comments:
your blog is feel good......
Dang, I just missed it!
Josh, read your food story and enjoyed it a lot - tried to comment but it didn't go through.
Sounds like a subtle display of authority. Nice to see your blog open again.
Man the fumes from so many burning dvds must have been horrible
@other lisa - Don't worry, your comment went through! My settings allow me to moderate comments made on posts older than 15 days. That's why it got caught up in the moderation line. It's there now, though. Thanks for looking!
@This Ridiculous World - Me too! Thanks for stopping back by.
@James: I didn't even think about that! I doubt all that stuff burning was particularly good for the environment, but then again, Urumqi isn't known for it's air quality. People probably didn't even notice a difference.
Did they have a barbecue with the fake goods fire? Would've saved all the street side barbecue guys some money on the coal.
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