"Can You Live without China?"

In the July/August edition of 'Foreign Policy' magazine there was an interesting interview with author Sara Bongiorni. Mrs. Bongiorni recently published a book titled A Year without "Made in China". A few days after Christmas 2004, the author was examining the year's Christmas presents and noticed an overwhelming percentage of all the gifts included the tag line "Made in China". She and her husband thought it would be an interesting experiment to see if they could last one whole year without consuming anything made in China.

To make a long story short they failed (no surprise). Still, the book gives its readers a greater appreciation for how dependent the American consumer's life is on China. The author's family was unable to purchase a new coffee maker, blender, most toys, shoes, and even high tech products. Bongiorni comments that there is, "no way to function as an “ordinary consumer” without being willing to buy some Chinese products."

One surprise to some readers may be how economically disadvantaged a consumer is if he/she refuses to buy Chinese products. A pair of shoes costed Mrs. Bongiorni $65, the same pair from China was $15.