So I've been back in DC for about week and a half now. I had to do a Target and Ikea run, thank goodness still giving me a few more days before my no-China days expire and I can still get my basic expensive essentials for a bit more cheaply. As I look around on my shelf, I see my fake designer handbags, my shoes that I got in Japan (ironically made in China) and every other thing in my room that sums up my life-China.
I've already started looking under the labels and have started becoming more aware of what I'm buying.
Well, let's see how this no China diet turns out!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The No-China Diet
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070821/ts_nm/china_safety_toys_dc
So, starting September 1, I'm going to try to go on a no-China diet. A nonChinatarian. This means not purchasing goods made in China.
Why?
It's more of a random challenge I put on myself to see how hard it would be to not live on Chinese goods. I mean, it only takes an extra step in the purchasing process to look at the label and see if it was "Made in China." If it was, I'll put it down and choose one that isn't made from that country. It sounds a bit ridiculous, but in a way, as much as I survived China and all its problems while in that country, it also is a way to see if more people live on a non-China diet, what would happen to the overall economy of China. Right now they are putting up national tv programs professing how their country's products are still quite safe. Uh...yes, poison in toothpaste? formalhyde in children's clothing? lead laced paint in barbie dolls? melomine or some other chemical in dog food? Very.
I'm never the type to really go on a boycott (except that time at Lush because the employee claimed my friend Barbara gave them a fake 50RMB for her home delivery and Barbara is quite smart about her money that she would never accept or give a fake bill).
However, I've seen the rough patches of China, and let's just say it was definitely no rough patch but rather a huge ditch innocent bystanders tumble into. China's changing, I know, but there's still so much sketchiness within the country that outsiders and tourists cannot detect. I worked there for 2 1/2 months, and it was definitely a lot harder than my year in Japan, or 5 weeks backpacking 10+ countries in Europe. A good portion of Chinese people within China even know of that there are plenty of problems within the country (::coughcorruptioncought::), and the rest (poor brainwashed kids and upper level officials) deny China is anything but the best.
Heck, by the time I was about to leave China, there were stories of 60% cardboard/40% fat in the meat buns- a food that is sold everywhere in China as a basic snack/breakfast food.
Then, my beloved, yet already quite skeptical, yangrou chuan (or pronouned chuar)- lamb skewers, that may be faked with chemicaled pork meat; after adding plenty of spices and eating it at night, there isn't much of a difference for people stumbing out of clubs in the middle of the night trying to sober up before going home.
fake alcohol. Need I say more about the dangers of fake alcohol and blindness? I think high school health class said something about not drinking rubbing alcohol the last time I recall...since it is for medical use, not consumption because it causes blindness. The last time in Russia people died from fake vodka, it was made with household cleaning products and laced with hepatitus A (or it may have been B. I forgot the article by now). Now that was Russia...imagine what may be in the fake Chinese alcohol burning down your throat.
I'm sure none of you have babies right now reading this, but baby formula...with absolutely no nutrition whatsoever. I think dirt even has more than what they put in baby powder then. What you thought was your healthy baby suddenly is hospitalized for malnutrition?!
Shrimps in China? Well, my well-off southern Chinese friend told me of her uncle's seafood farming business, and how they add chemicals contained in birth control pills to boost up the estrogen level in shrimp, making them larger. I still do love seafood and still do eat shrimp, but does that mean the more shrimp you eat, the less you need a condom?
Clothes? fake bags? Just products in general? They fall apart twice as fast when bought and worn within China, especially with it's quick sewing technique and fabulous knotting skills. Then again most basic waged people can only afford quantity, not quality. Their washing machines don't exactly wash, but stretch clothes in odd ways shirts have never seen before.
I was never a safety freak, especially when concerning my love for food, but the more I realize there are so many ill nutritioned foods and questionable products (some illegal which I confess did buy myself) out there, the more I questioned my iron stomach. But China must stop its bad ways of cutting corners and only thinking about money since it is hurting everyone especially now they have brought their market into an international playing level. It is bad enough the way bosses treat their workers ( I have seen it with my own eyes and this isn't even in a factory, so imagine factory treatment) and I am quite glad more eyes are focused on China and their bad habits. They can't just put all the rubbish under the rug and stand in front of it and tell the international community there is absolutely nothing wrong with their country. A lot of Chinese consumer products and people are just not trustworthy, and they are spreading the bad stuff to the world.
I also have some really amazing mainland Chinese friends so it doesn't mean I am out to go against all Chinese people and China. Furthermore I am of HK Chinese blood so I will still continue to eat Chinese/Asian food. So with that, I will select my choice of grocers more carefully. Hey perhaps out of all this, my nonChinetarian diet will grow out of habit and this will be the way I shop from now on.
So as ridiculous as this post sounds, I'm going on a no-China diet. Join me if you want, and let me know how you fare on this attempt. :)
So, starting September 1, I'm going to try to go on a no-China diet. A nonChinatarian. This means not purchasing goods made in China.
Why?
It's more of a random challenge I put on myself to see how hard it would be to not live on Chinese goods. I mean, it only takes an extra step in the purchasing process to look at the label and see if it was "Made in China." If it was, I'll put it down and choose one that isn't made from that country. It sounds a bit ridiculous, but in a way, as much as I survived China and all its problems while in that country, it also is a way to see if more people live on a non-China diet, what would happen to the overall economy of China. Right now they are putting up national tv programs professing how their country's products are still quite safe. Uh...yes, poison in toothpaste? formalhyde in children's clothing? lead laced paint in barbie dolls? melomine or some other chemical in dog food? Very.
I'm never the type to really go on a boycott (except that time at Lush because the employee claimed my friend Barbara gave them a fake 50RMB for her home delivery and Barbara is quite smart about her money that she would never accept or give a fake bill).
However, I've seen the rough patches of China, and let's just say it was definitely no rough patch but rather a huge ditch innocent bystanders tumble into. China's changing, I know, but there's still so much sketchiness within the country that outsiders and tourists cannot detect. I worked there for 2 1/2 months, and it was definitely a lot harder than my year in Japan, or 5 weeks backpacking 10+ countries in Europe. A good portion of Chinese people within China even know of that there are plenty of problems within the country (::coughcorruptioncought::), and the rest (poor brainwashed kids and upper level officials) deny China is anything but the best.
Heck, by the time I was about to leave China, there were stories of 60% cardboard/40% fat in the meat buns- a food that is sold everywhere in China as a basic snack/breakfast food.
Then, my beloved, yet already quite skeptical, yangrou chuan (or pronouned chuar)- lamb skewers, that may be faked with chemicaled pork meat; after adding plenty of spices and eating it at night, there isn't much of a difference for people stumbing out of clubs in the middle of the night trying to sober up before going home.
fake alcohol. Need I say more about the dangers of fake alcohol and blindness? I think high school health class said something about not drinking rubbing alcohol the last time I recall...since it is for medical use, not consumption because it causes blindness. The last time in Russia people died from fake vodka, it was made with household cleaning products and laced with hepatitus A (or it may have been B. I forgot the article by now). Now that was Russia...imagine what may be in the fake Chinese alcohol burning down your throat.
I'm sure none of you have babies right now reading this, but baby formula...with absolutely no nutrition whatsoever. I think dirt even has more than what they put in baby powder then. What you thought was your healthy baby suddenly is hospitalized for malnutrition?!
Shrimps in China? Well, my well-off southern Chinese friend told me of her uncle's seafood farming business, and how they add chemicals contained in birth control pills to boost up the estrogen level in shrimp, making them larger. I still do love seafood and still do eat shrimp, but does that mean the more shrimp you eat, the less you need a condom?
Clothes? fake bags? Just products in general? They fall apart twice as fast when bought and worn within China, especially with it's quick sewing technique and fabulous knotting skills. Then again most basic waged people can only afford quantity, not quality. Their washing machines don't exactly wash, but stretch clothes in odd ways shirts have never seen before.
I was never a safety freak, especially when concerning my love for food, but the more I realize there are so many ill nutritioned foods and questionable products (some illegal which I confess did buy myself) out there, the more I questioned my iron stomach. But China must stop its bad ways of cutting corners and only thinking about money since it is hurting everyone especially now they have brought their market into an international playing level. It is bad enough the way bosses treat their workers ( I have seen it with my own eyes and this isn't even in a factory, so imagine factory treatment) and I am quite glad more eyes are focused on China and their bad habits. They can't just put all the rubbish under the rug and stand in front of it and tell the international community there is absolutely nothing wrong with their country. A lot of Chinese consumer products and people are just not trustworthy, and they are spreading the bad stuff to the world.
I also have some really amazing mainland Chinese friends so it doesn't mean I am out to go against all Chinese people and China. Furthermore I am of HK Chinese blood so I will still continue to eat Chinese/Asian food. So with that, I will select my choice of grocers more carefully. Hey perhaps out of all this, my nonChinetarian diet will grow out of habit and this will be the way I shop from now on.
So as ridiculous as this post sounds, I'm going on a no-China diet. Join me if you want, and let me know how you fare on this attempt. :)
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