Tag Archives: china

china mall

Posted by rob on

i have been temporarily assigned here for work in ajman for almost two weeks now.  ajman is about a 45 minute taxi ride to dubai without the traffic, and is the smallest of the seven emirates making up the united arab emirates.

one of the places to visit here is china mall, a 100,000 square meter built-up area with shops that sell china made merchandise like garments, accessories, textiles, household, jewellery, fashion accessories, toys, crafts, and electronics.  i saw fake designer merchandise being sold here which are mostly for women and even an iphone 5 that sells for 300 dirhams! 

i bought some bottled chinese iced tea, haw flakes and some dried seafood snacks from a shop that sells foodstuff then i saw one store that sells ‘crocs’ shoes.  i went inside the store and had a small conversation with the chinese guy selling the items.

me: how much for the crocs loafers?
chinese guy: 30.00 dirhams each, buy two for 50.00 dirhams.
me: huh? 30.00 dirhams?! are these original?
chinese guy: original? what original?! it’s made in china!

i think i got the guy pissed off in my stupid question, haha!  anyway, i bought a pair of khaki-colored ‘original’ crocs loafers and after he saw me taking pictures, i looked at him and said:  “i’ll show my friends”, he then smiled and replied back: “okay.. tell your friend buy”! 😀

08-08-08

Posted by rob on

in chinese culture, the number 8 is a symbol of prosperity, wealth or fortune.  the combination of 888 is believed to be lucky, as three times the prosperity.  today is the start of the 2008 beijing summer olympics – no wonder they won the bid.

everything’s made in china

Posted by rob on

absolutely, i am sure that you will find a personal belonging that is made in china.  whenever i buy something out of a store, i just have this habit on checking where the stuff i bought is made: my laptop, mobile phone, cordless mouse, portable hard drive – most of the gadgets i have is made in china..  my bullcap, a shirt, a pair of pants, my flipflops..

the average labor costs of industries in China are only 5 percent of those in developed countries like the United States, Japan and Germany.

but is china exploiting cheap labor?  foreign investors sees this as a low priced, quality labor resource, and referred to as the country’s say to world competitiveness.  reality is, it’s just not china that offers cheap labor , include india, pakistan, vietnam, indonesia, mexico, brazil and not to forget my own home country, the philippines, amongst others. 

so is everything made in china?  hmm..

i was munching  some “skittles” candies last night and of course was checking the foil packaging – funny thing was it was manufactured in huairou, beijing, china.