Remember when Chinese products were the butt of consumerist jokes? Well, now the joke is on us. 

To rebut president Donald Trump's tariff increase on China, Chinese manufacturers began exposing designer brands and where their products are really made. This has drawn reactions from consumers on social media and turned the meaning of "Made In China" on its head. 

Prior to this, the meaning of the phrase was "low price, low quality", and even "fake". South African Kwaito group Hunger Boyz gave us a song called "Fong Kong" in the 90s. The lyrics reinforced the low price- low quality idea, and we as the listeners bought into it. They may have been under the same impression too, so, this is not to condemn them.

In addition, the song was also commentary on the Chinese retail takeover in South Africa. This boom met the need of middle  and working class South African people, and affordability was the appeal. This also came at a time when the country's economy was recovering from economic sanctions of Apartheid. 

But, where did this idea of China's product inferiority come from?  According to Futurity.org, it began with American PR and media. Before this, products from China, such as porcelain dish sets (Fine China) and silk, were highly valued. However, when the country started making and exporting universal products, such as handbags, toys and clothing, they likely  proved to be the competition of Western economic giants. To quell that fire, American media went on a mission to critique the affordable supplier by calling its products "low quality". This caused the materialistic consumer to buy luxury items with a European designer brand attached to it, rather than the "Made in China" label. 

How did this propaganda spread to South Africa?  Taylor and Francis alludes to African media also pushing the low price-low quality narrative. However, the reasons behind the negative publicity in South Africa differ from the ones in the USA. One of the reasons is the high  rate of importing  and purchasing of Chinese products, which caused a decline in local production and manufacturing.

There has also been the nagging perspective of China as a Neo-colonialist power, but this reputation has recently been questioned. I recently had a conversation with a friend  in which he claims that China seeks diplomatic  business relations with other countries, instead of political control. This sounds legitimate, but let's wait and see. 

This brings me to the recent exposure of designer labels with undue manufacturing credit. Tik tok has been flooded with consumer reactions and intellectual takes that have begun to break the strongholds of "label" culture.

One can also not help but think of designer stores in South Africa's shopping hubs, such as Sandton City, in this pivotal time. This thought snowballs into memories of reality show scenes, where the central conflict is who has the most expensive handbag. It would be interesting to see what the storylines will be based on from now on. 

As the saying goes, what happens in the dark always comes to light. Even consumers who were in the dark have been enlightened by what some Tik tokers call a revolution. As for the "Fong Kong" anthem, there is surely a more ironic ring to it now.