China's technology is dark ages, as seen in rice cookers.

The Rice Cooker Has Become a Test of China’s Ability to Fix Its Economy

We have had kids in garages for the past many decades building more advanced technology than the modern rice cooker, and China is mired in the mid 1950s?! 

​More below the fold.

"Ding Jianxiong, 31 years old, paid around $550 for his family’s rice cooker on a visit to Tokyo. Mr. Ding said it was worth it. “The rice it cooks becomes really tender, but also chewy, and you can taste the individual grains.'"

Holy Mother of Pearl, $550 for a rice cooker? I would give up rice before I'd pay that extortion. I think I paid about $125 for my Zojirushi NS-TSC-18, which makes 10 cups of uncooked rice. While I like it just fine, I can't imagine paying more than about $150 or so for a rice cooker.

But really, if China can't compete in rice cookers it is doomed.

"'Chinese companies have competed on price, so people cut corners, and then people stop believing in made-in-China products,” he said.

Some consumers, like Mr. Ding, say rampant counterfeiting in the country has damped consumer trust. “As soon as there’s a good product that comes out in China, people are coming out with counterfeits” he said."

China hoisted on its own petard, due to crappy quality, and counterfeiting! It is good to see these shitebird chickens coming home to roost. China deserves this, good and hard.

"Despite the country’s efforts to boost consumer confidence, quality and safety issues persist. Toys found to contain lead or arsenic have fueled health scares. Earlier this year, parents were infuriated to learn about a counterfeit milk-powder ring that had gone unreported for months, even though authorities were aware of it. Amid the backlash, state media outlets joined the public in criticizing regulators. The national food-safety agency later said the products weren’t unsafe, and hadn’t wanted people to panic.

Stories of fatal fires caused by rice cookers periodically appear in the news. Because of such risks, they are often banned in college dormitories. In 2010, Chinese media reported that four children were killed in a fire caused by a cooker whose cord had short-circuited."

This makes the mad dash of wealthy Chinese buying up real estate in the US and Canada more understandable. Every breath they take, every bite they take, every product they buy is a trap waiting to kill them or their children. 

Until China is actually not stealing technology but creating their own from scratch, I am not worried about the paper tiger.