According to two nationwide purchasing managers surveys, China's manufacturing activity continued to
expand in November, supported by strengthening demand both at home and abroad. HSBC said Tuesday that the HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index rose to 55.7 in November from 55.4 in October.
However, in recent months, China has been plagued by product recalls. The most
recent case was the discovery of quality control problems, at drug developer Simcere Pharmaceutical Group's Jiangsu Yanshen unit. On Wednesday, Simcere suspended production at the plant in order to carry out an inspection. Simcere said it discovered quality control issues at the unit, particularly with the production of the human-use rabies vaccine, after obtaining a controlling stake in October.
To counter this image of questionable quality of its products, China has hired a Manhattan ad agency to start a
global PR campaign. It's now running a
television commercial, regarded as Beijing's first global ad campaign, to boost the image of "made in China" products. The ad portrays satisfied customers enjoying Chinese-made goods.
Read more about China's economy, politics and other current events in the Daily Updates section of our website.
In a recent article called
Buying "Made in China", we discuss how the Chinese manufacturing industry has been plagued by product safety scandals and quality issues. We find out who gets most affected by these concerns and how they react to it.
In our most recent story,
China’s Hackers on the Rise, we take a look at the growing number of hacker infiltrations of US security systems, most of which seem to originate in China.
Read this and other articles at our website.
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