Made in the PRC: Facts About China's Fight Against Counterfeits

By Arjun Subrahmanyan

Ask most informed consumers about the state of consumer goods manufacturing in China and they'd probably say China cheaply produces goods of reasonable quality and, if they bear a foreign brand name, they could quite possibly be counterfeit.

Welcome to free markets in the new China. Twenty-plus years of economic reforms have created a mobile labour force and led to a huge growth in urban populations, created jobs, devolved economic decision making to the local level, and encouraged local enterprises, both privately-held and those with state backing, to manufacture goods that will sell in the market.