My earliest memories of Chinese-made products involved amusing English, shoddy copycat items, hazardous toys, and low-quality products that would break after about five uses.  Back then US-made items made up the majority of my family's purchases.  Supermarket food from China was unheard of.  Cheap auto parts were available, but there was always an option to buy American, pay a little more, and usually get much better quality.  Japan was moving up in its product quality levels, leaving China far behind in terms of sales volume and capital for R&D. 

Now many things sold even by American companies are made in China: apparel, electronics, children's toys, machinery.  For a while America's largest export to China was cargo containers to ship products back in.  Goods are being produced and shipped in such volumes that secondary market effects are happening, like the devaluation of antique and collectible furniture.  And even in states like Maine, foods from China are finding spots on retailers' shelves.

It seems that, with some money being redirected to American retailers, that China and America have a working but lopsided truce. 

But how has it affected me personally?

If you really wanted me to tell you, I would guess I'm being slowly poisoned by toxins in my clothing, processed food I don't know comes partly from China, and atmospheric fallout from the countless factories there.  Otherwise, I guess I'm doing okay.  Chinese things don't seem to break as much anymore, but I still have to take it easy on them.  Probably my car parts have been Chinese at times but I haven't noticed a difference; they all wear out too fast. 

There seems to be a serious effort to communicate products' information in English, like hibachis, and I haven't noticed a missing screw or other piece in an assembly package for some time.   

One thing I will never buy though is Chinese produce.  After hearing about lead recalls for things like garlic and reading about the awful melamine pet poisoning incidents, there is no way I will ever trade my health for a few pennies in savings with the food I eat.

The Lenovo computers seem very interesting, especially for my budget, but after dealing with the incompatibilities of the "95% compatible" IBM PCjr, I've decided it's better to hold off on quick fixes for reputable companies like Dell, and I will make sure I don't ever buy any Chinese electronics. 

I also like to keep an eye out for what American products are still being made.  In the 1970s and 80s when I was growing up, manufacturing was what kept our local economy reasonably self-sufficient.  Now, it's just the shuffle of a service economy, with thousands of job slaves dejectedly kicking over openings in the newspapers.

So overall I've reached an uneasy truce with the billions of products being shoved down my throat from a country that's poisoned thousands of our pets, loaded up America's kids with toxic lead (nice way to stay ahead in the test scores), and crippled the country's manufacturing businesses.  If it won't outright kill me, I don't have to eat it, and there's no American alternative, I guess I'll buy it.

Thanks, China.