Made in China (Simplified Chinese: 中国制造, pinyin: zhōngguó zhìzào) is a mark affixed to products that were made in People's Republic of China, specifically mainland China.
Extent of use of the label
While the definition of the term China is debatable, the Made in China label is generally only affixed to products made in mainland China.
While Hong Kong is part of China, most products made in Hong Kong explicitly indicate "Hong Kong" in its labelling (i.e. "Made in Hong Kong") in order to make a distinction. Products made in Taiwan, which has a separate government and economy, do not use the "Made in China" label. Rather, either "Made in Taiwan" or "Made in R.O.C." is used. Currently it is uncommon to see "Made in P.R.C." as a product label, but it is becoming more common as some manufacturers may wish to obscure that a product is made in Communist China.
Marketing significance
Even though "Made in China" is one of the most recognizable labels in the world today, it is still rare to see products being prominently marketed as such. The phrase is viewed as an indication of inferior product quality made under questionable labor conditions by consumers in some countries. Upscale Chinese goods typically market themselves to be in some ways related to processes in developed economies, such as "Designed in California". US law requires the country of origin to be visibly displayed on the product, or on the product's container if it is enclosed so that the country of origin mark on the product itself is not visible.
Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: 中国大陆; Traditional Chinese: 中國大陸; Pinyin: Zhōnggúo Dàlù), or "Continental China", or simply "the mainland", is a geopolitical term usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the People's Republic of China (PRC).
It does not include:
Taiwan province
special administrative regions (SARs) administered by the PRC
Hong Kong
Macau
Introduction
The term came in popular use as a result of [citation needed] the Chinese Civil War which concluded in 1950, in reference to the area then administered by the Communist Party of China (CPC), including all offshore islands such as Hainan. It excluded the area controlled by the retreating Kuomintang (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party), as well as the then colonies of Hong Kong and Macau, and is thus not entirely synonymous with the geographical interpretation of the term mainland. Despite the return of Hong Kong and Macau to China in 1997 and 1999 respectively, the term continues to regularly exclude these territories in respect of the policy as adopted by the PRC central government towards the SARs[citation needed].
The term is often used on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and in overseas Chinese communities, although the Beijing government rarely [citation needed] uses the term in place of the name "People's Republic of China", even if it is without reference to the SARs. It may be considered relatively neutral towards the political status of Taiwan[citation needed], although its greater reference to the area directly controlled by the Beijing government may be considered less neutral to some due to its political inclinations. Supporters of Taiwanese independence also frequently disfavour the use of the term as it implied a geographical extension or relation to the rest of China. In the mainland itself, the term (Simplified Chinese: 内地; Traditional Chinese: 內地; Pinyin: nèidì), literally the interior, has gained popularity in use in place of the term "mainland", particularly after the return of the SARs. [citation needed]
In Taiwan, the term "Mainlander" can also refer to waishengren (Chinese: 外省人; Pinyin: wàishěngrén), or the people who emigrated to Taiwan from Mainland China near the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949; and their children, who were born in Taiwan. The status of waishengren in Taiwan is a divisive political issue, with pro-Taiwan independence politicians calling into question their loyalty and devotion to Taiwan and pro-Chinese reunification politicians accusing the pro-independence politicians of playing identity politics. [1] The term "Mainlander" can also refer to daluren (Simplified Chinese: 大陆人; Traditional Chinese: 大陸人; Pinyin: dàlùrén; literally "mainland person(s)"), meaning the people who live on the Mainland now and the very small number of people who have emigrated to Taiwan recently. The term "Mainlander" is used in Hong Kong and Macau for people from the rest of the PRC.
Other use of geography-related terms are also often used where neutrality is required. References to the Taiwan Strait (cross-straits relations (Simplified Chinese: 两岸关系; Traditional Chinese: 兩岸關係; Pinyin: liǎng'àn guānxì; literally "relations between the two sides/shores (of the Strait of Taiwan)")), or the physical shores on both sides of the straits ("two shores" (Simplified Chinese: 海峡两岸; Traditional Chinese: 海峽兩岸; Pinyin: Hǎixiá liǎng'àn)) may be used. An extension of this is the term "two shores, three places" (Simplified Chinese: 两岸三地; Traditional Chinese: 兩岸三地; Pinyin: liǎng'àn sāndì) when referring to either Hong Kong or Macau, or "two shores, four places" (Simplified Chinese: 两岸四地; Traditional Chinese: 兩岸四地; Pinyin: liǎng'àn sìdì) when referring to both Hong Kong and Macau, although these terms are not as popular.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region [pronunciation], commonly known as Hong Kong[4] (Chinese: 香港), is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China (PRC); the other being nearby Macau. Hong Kong is located on the eastern side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong province in the north and facing the South China Sea in the east, west and south. Hong Kong is one of the world's largest and most economically important cities, considered one of the Eastern hemisphere's vital financial centers. Today it stands as a citadel for modern lifestyle, teenage culture, media entertainment, and towering architecture.
Hong Kong was a dependent territory of the United Kingdom from 1842 until the transfer of its sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997. The Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Hong Kong stipulate that Hong Kong operate with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2047, fifty years after the transfer. Under the policy of "one country, two systems", the Central People's Government is responsible for the territory's defence and foreign affairs, while Hong Kong maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy, immigration policy, and delegates to international organisations and events.
Human settlement in the location now known as Hong Kong dates back to the Paleolithic era. The region was first incorporated into Imperial China in the Qin Dynasty, and served as a trading post and naval base during the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty. The area's earliest recorded European visitor was Jorge Álvares, a Portuguese mariner who arrived in 1513.[5][6] Contact with the United Kingdom was established after the British East India Company founded a trading post in the nearby city of Canton.
In 1839, the refusal by Qing Dynasty authorities to import opium resulted in the First Opium War between China and Britain.[7] Hong Kong Island was first occupied by British forces in 1841, and then formally ceded from China under the Treaty of Nanking at the end of the war. The British established a Crown Colony with the founding of Victoria City the following year. In 1860, after China's defeat in the Second Opium War, the Kowloon Peninsula south of Boundary Street and Stonecutter's Island were ceded to Britain in perpetuity under the Convention of Peking. In 1898, Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the adjacent northern lands and Lantau Island, which became known as the New Territories.
Hong Kong was declared a free port to serve as an entrepôt of the British Empire. The Kowloon-Canton Railway opened in 1910 with a southern terminus in Tsim Sha Tsui. An education system based on the British model was introduced. The local Chinese population had little contact with the European community of wealthy tai-pans settled near Victoria Peak.[7]
As part of its military campaign in World War II, the Empire of Japan invaded Hong Kong on December 8, 1941. The Battle of Hong Kong ended with British and Canadian defenders surrendering control of the colony to Japan on December 25. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, civilians suffered from widespread food shortages caused by imposed rations, and hyper-inflation due to forced exchange of currency for military notes. Hong Kong's population declined from 1.6 million before the invasion to about 600,000 in 1945,[8] when the United Kingdom resumed control of the colony following Japan's defeat in the war.
Hong Kong's population recovered quickly after the war, as a wave of mainland migrants arrived for refuge from the ongoing Chinese Civil War. With the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, more migrants fled to Hong Kong from the fear of persecution by the Communist Party of China.[7] Many corporations in Shanghai and Guangzhou also shifted their operations to Hong Kong.[7] The colony became the sole place of contact between mainland China and the Western world, as the communist government increasingly isolated the country from outside influence. Trade with the mainland was interrupted during the Korean War, when the United Nations ordered a trade embargo against the communist government.[9]
The textile and manufacturing industries grew with the help of population growth and low cost of labour. As Hong Kong rapidly industrialised, its economy became driven by exports to international markets. Living standards rose steadily with the industrial growth. The construction of Shek Kip Mei Estate in 1953 marked the beginning of the public housing estate program. Hong Kong was disrupted by chaos during the riots of 1967.[7] Pro-communist leftists, inspired by the Cultural Revolution in the mainland, turned a labour dispute into a violent uprising against the colonial government lasting until the end of the year.
Established in 1974, the Independent Commission Against Corruption dramatically reduced corruption in the government. When the People's Republic of China initiated a set of economic reforms in 1978, Hong Kong became the main source of foreign investments to the mainland. A Special Economic Zone was established the following year in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, located immediately north of the mainland's border with Hong Kong. The economy of Hong Kong gradually displaced textiles and manufacturing with services, as the financial and banking sectors became increasingly dominant. After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the Hong Kong government spent 25 years dealing with the entry and repatriation of Vietnamese refugees.
With the lease of the New Territories due to expire within two decades, the governments of the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China discussed the issue of Hong Kong's sovereignty in the 1980s. In 1984, the two countries signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, agreeing to transfer the sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997.[7] The declaration stipulated that Hong Kong would be governed as a special administrative region, retaining its laws and high degree of autonomy for at least fifty years after the transfer. Lacking confidence in the arrangement, some residents chose to emigrate from Hong Kong, particularly after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
The Basic Law of Hong Kong, which would serve as the constitutional document after the transfer, was ratified in 1990. Over strong objections from Beijing, Governor Chris Patten introduced democratic reforms to the election process for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. The transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong occurred at midnight on July 1, 1997, marked by a handover ceremony at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.[7] Tung Chee Hwa assumed office as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's economy was affected by the Asian financial crisis of 1997 that hit many East Asian markets. The H5N1 avian influenza also surfaced in Hong Kong that year. Implementation of the Airport Core Programme led to the opening of the new Hong Kong International Airport in 1998, after six years of construction. The project was part of the ambitious Port and Airport Development Strategy that was drafted in the early 1980s.
The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome took hold of Hong Kong in the first half of 2003.[10] That year, half a million people participated in a march to voice disapproval of the Tung administration and the proposal to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law, which had raised concerns over infringements on rights and freedoms. The proposal was later abandoned by the administration. In 2005, Tung submitted his resignation as chief executive. Donald Tsang, the Chief Secretary for Administration, was selected as chief executive to complete the term.
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