I really like the following excerpt from "Random thoughts from 5 non-stop days in 7 factories in three provinces in China." by the Silk Road International Blog.
"Factory owner and millionaire, 35 years old, tells me that the road out in front of his factory he built with his own hands when he was in high-school. The local govt required all households to provide unpaid labor for specific lengths of the new road. His father was a teacher and away at school and his mother was over 40 and the only one home. So he had to miss much of one year of high school to fill the State-mandated labor quota. These are the type of people that you’re dealing with in China—you need to know that they can wait you out. They are not intimidated by your pressure. They know they can dump your product in the local markets if you back out. You need to understand that you’re probably not nearly as important to these many factories as you think you are." I have had clients think their Chinese supplier will never let them go and then have to pay a very steep price to learn otherwise.
By way of the excellent China Law Blog
