Is buying products from China morally wrong for an individual?

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Something that I’ve been thinking about, but doesn’t seem to be talked about is this: Is buying products from China morally wrong for and individual to do so?

China has been rated as having one of the worst human rights records in the world, and I’m sure many of you have some knowledge of this. They also suppress the Catholic church, christianity, and other religions in their country.

Despite this, much of what we buy for everyday use was made in China, and by buying these products, it could be argued that we are supporting everything that I stated in the previous paragraph.

Note: I’m not interested in the political implications of any of this. I put this under the social justice category for a reason. I’m simply asking whether buying products from China is morally wrong for an individual.

Hopefully this idea challenges you. I’m really interested in your responses…
 
It depends on the intention.

If the individual in question buys such goods with the intention of supporting the abusive conditions there presently, then it is morally wrong.

If the individual buys such goods in the hope that prosperity will force Chinese society to improve working conditions, then it could be laudable.

If, however, the individual chooses such goods for other reasons then the morality of the purchase is not connected with the conditions in which it was made. Rather, it is dependent upon the actual motives.
 
Unless you want to live like a Pioneer family, I don’t see how one can avoid not buying anything that is made in China.
 
Putting decent hadrworking Americans out of a job?
Supporing an evil, repressive government in China?
Giving products that are inferiorly made and possibly/likely contain lead to your family?

(Sigh…) It’s not morally wrong because these are the ONLY options that have been given to us by our own govenment and money-grubbing businesses. :mad:

What IS morally wrong is that we Americans tolerate a government/policies that have allowed the 3 items above to happen. We must:

Manufacture more in the United States.
-]Impliment stricter/-] ENFORCE product standards.
TARIFFS!!!
 
I try my best to not purchase goods from China and other countries but I don’t think it is immoral to do so. The one thing I refuse to buy from China are religious items. There is a Catholic store nearby and most of the statues are made in China.
 
Good points everyone.
SonCatcher said:
If the individual buys such goods in the hope that prosperity will force Chinese society to improve working conditions, then it could be laudable.
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I think that if the individual were to think this they are mislead. I’m not concerned with working conditions or prosperity. I’m concerned with Chinese policies that oppress religious liberties and population control policies. Two areas that clearly go against catholic social teaching. The Chinese government wants prosperity because they know that in order for them to keep their power, they need to keep the people happy.

Also, I understand that it would be impossible in our society to not buy products from China. But I’m still not sure that this justifies it. Maybe by becoming so interconnected with society we’ve become slaves to it. There is something virtuous about “pioneer family.”
 
rfournier103 said:
Putting decent hadrworking Americans out of a job?
Supporing an evil, repressive government in China?
Giving products that are inferiorly made and possibly/likely contain lead to your family?

(Sigh…) It’s not morally wrong because these are the ONLY options that have been given to us by our own govenment and money-grubbing businesses. :mad:

What IS morally wrong is that we Americans tolerate a government/policies that have allowed the 3 items above to happen. We must:

Manufacture more in the United States.
-]Impliment stricter/-] ENFORCE product standards.
TARIFFS!!!
Click to expand...
Don’t forget sweatshops and child labor. :mad: And not just in China. In other third-world nations we import from - and even here I’ve heard of it happening.

I agree with the points you make. It just seems like the ship has sailed on all of it a long time ago. Every now and then I hear about something where people were able to buy things American and even for cheaper than the Chinese imports. But sadly, the general public doesn’t see all this as a priority issue, and the items manufactured in China are readily available at your local Boxmart - it takes time and effort to seek out alternatives.

Also, I wonder, if we have shut down and outsourced so much of our manufacturing, what happens if China gets ticked off at us and starts a war? Look at World War II and how we were able to gear up for that here at home. We wouldn’t be able to now. And I doubt we could buy war materiel from China. Just sayin’. Let’s hope and pray it never happens.
 
Polycarp1 said:
没有我认为它优良是! …
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That’s easy for you to say!

Actually, I had despised the outsourcing of American jobs overseas. I buy things made in China, but with a grimace on my face. Then I heard about the Schiller Elite euphonium (google it if you want to see a photo), which is actually made in Jinbao, China and is a knockoff of a Yamaha model. I was playing a 90-year-old Conn and really wanted a new[er] horn. I did the research, suppressed my feelings, and ordered one. Not sorry at all 😃 Given the level of craftsmanship, I doubt that this was made in a sweatshop.
 
One can only speculate, but I suspect that Jesus and his followers bought and used Roman goods all the time. I wonder if it would be as hard to find goods made or grown in Judea for Judeans as it would be to try to live ones life in the United States only using and consuming items made or grown in the U.S. for Americans. Every darius that the Jews and later the Christians spent to by food, shelter, clothing, etc. was heavily taxed by the State, and the money went to a blatantly imperialist, empire which lacked morality, had slave labor, debtors prison etc.

If I have a little extra time (and money), I sometimes check the origin of my food and clothing, but they I often feel foolish for doing so. I would love for the USA to be self sufficient, or at least participate in fair trade, and force it’s partners to do the same economically. But, frankly, in the end…none of that is in my personal wheelhouse, and I don’t suspect that it needs to be in order for me to be a good Christian. The sermon on the mount tells us not to worry about what we eat drink and wear. The gospels also tell us to render unto Caesar what is his and to God what is God’s. As simplistic as that may sound, I find life much more bearable when I accept whatever I am able to buy in my financial state, and I am grateful for it. I pray that the Chinese children and slaves who made it, find Christ, along with their Casear, and perhaps, will be able to find joy on their end. I suppose that even a child in slave labor gets to eat better than one who doesn’t have a job making anything for Americans to consume. The state may take most of it, and the exploitation is a sin of the government, but God ultimately sorts all that out. I’m not saying that fair trade isn’t a marvelous and worthy cause, but your were asking for us to dig deep. I keep my eyes fixed on the Lord, and if I am led to particpate in that cause at a greater level, then the Lord will direct me, and provide the means for me to do that. In the mean time, I am a Christian and a member of the proletariat, as a consumer. I can only buy what the state makes available in my price range at the market, be it Chinese or Indonesian, and I can only pray for clarity of my role in this whole mess.
 
Are Chinese not supposed to eat?

Does anybody really think some Chinese is sitting there at his work bench thinking “Aha! I’m going to fix those Americans by undercutting the prices of their goods.”

No, he’s thinking how he’ll draw a paycheck that might seem miserable by my standards but which affords him and his family a lot better living than mucking in some quarter-acre plot in the countryside ever could.

So, his government stinks, granted. But he doesn’t work because of that. He works because he wants to eat.

If American unemployment is too high (and it sure is) we ought to be looking at the real causes of that, not at the rice bowl wage of somebody in China. This country is potentially (among other things advantageous) the new Saudi Arabia of energy. We ought to be able to pay good wages to make products that are competitive here because the energy needed to make them and the cost of transportation are so low that we can compete with anybody. But we also have ideologues who would rather see people without jobs than to see that, and want half or more of the wages of those who do have jobs.

In my opinion, we need to wake up and see that it’s not the man in China trying to fill his rice bowl that’s the problem. It’s the men, and women in Washington, (and in state capitols) who dine on wagyu beef and fine wines while prating about “climate change” and spending other peoples’ money on lavish junkets and on vote buying with costly, but largely illusory programs.

I’ll admit that I “buy American” when I can. Partly that’s because of quality, but it’s also because I just feel more akin to Americans. But I have absolutely no moral qualms about buying something from China or India or Bangladesh or El Salvador or Jordan. (Yes, Jordan. I was suprised in reading the label of my latest suit that it was made there.)
 
It’s the corporate bigwigs and middlemen who are reaping the greatest rewards from the current system, IMO.
 
In my post above I forgot to mention that the price of the Chinese euph, including shipping was in the mid-$900s, while the Yamaha model on which it is based (made in Japan, not the U.S., BTW) is about $6k.
 
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