Chinese Economic Incentives?

[mbarker]

There was a short piece on the news. If we understood right, China is encouraging its citizenry to "buy Chinese." In particular, right now they are paying 13% of the price of refrigerators, TVs, washing machines, and cell phones. And before we sniff and decide that's not important, the news folks said that only 22.5% of Chinese homes have a refrigerator. Interestingly, 32% have a TV. And they showed an old farmer getting his very first refrigerator --with a big smile. Never thought about the potential for lack exports to the US  to help feed more stuff into the home market.

Comments

[french-noodles.livejournal.com]

The economic crisis made the Chinese companies realise that they actually have a market right at home. The only problem is the economic crisis is not looking good at China either.

Granted, it's better than most countries but the number of people unemployed is terrifying. It makes me wonder the extent to which they can tap the home market.

[jinkang.livejournal.com]

Even though there're a lot of population in China, not everyone can afford latest electronics, nor would they want to, I imagine.

It's like a lot of Americans not wanting highspeed internet. For me, that's crazy; how can anyone leave off the net? But some people don't need it.

And likewise, I don't think every Chinese would want a 40" lcd tv when CRT will do, if they even want one. The feed will be mostly via satelite or antenna anyway.

There's certainly market in China, but the whole country is not the same as Shanghai or Beijing where they can squeeze every rmb for latest techs.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

What the Japanese news report seemed to be suggesting was that for many Chinese, this is the first time they have had access to consumer goods -- refrigerator, washing machine, TV, and cell phone were the four they highlighted in the report. I got the impression that for many Chinese, they are still at the first step, and that this initiative was aimed at helping them get that first one.