Because most fake electronic gadgets, domestic items and clothes indicate that they are made in China, very many people in Uganda and Africa at large conclude that everything produced in China must be ‘fake.’ So the description ‘Made in China’ is synonymous with fake products. Therefore the Chinese government still has a long journey to change this prejudice.

When you visit African cities like Kampala, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg and Lusaka the myth there about consumer electronics on the market suggests that products manufactured in China have lesser value than those made in Europe and America.

The myth started in late 1990s when low quality cheap Chinese goods started being dumped in Africa, and consequently overran high quality goods from German, Italy, USA, England, Japan and Austria among other developed countries.

Most people in Africa know Chinese as people who make very cheap devices that can hardly last for six months.

In the minds of most Africans no one is expecting quality products from China. Even if the Chinese wanted to produce quality products today, most people in Africa and around the world would think that they are fake. But China is one of the countries in the world which have all the necessary technologies, expertise and designers needed in the production of high quality products.

The most common Chinese fake goods are watches, phones, fridges and radios. The manufacturers of fake Chinese products like phones have interesting marketing strategies. They copy the designs and brand names of an original product. For instance, a Chinese can produce Sumsung for Samsung or Nckia for Nokia. Other Chinese companies dealing in fake products can even be bold enough to print Nokia on the phone using a different font. Buy a phone that looks like an original Sony Ericsson, turn it on and hear a strange Chinese techno ringtones. Then scroll through its operating systems and see poor English grammar and spelling mistakes.

Walakira Nyanzi

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