This is one of those things that people are used to hearing me say - "China is either going to lead us boldly into the future we always dreamed of, or destroy us all long before we get anywhere near it." The means by which China has the potential to be our guide into the brighter of the potential futures I'll leave for another day. Today I feel like I should really say something about the bleaker, nastier, crustier, and more pustulent future that China might lead us to.

Just about most everyones and manypeoples know of China's reputation for being *the* place where counterfeit products come from. Maybe it's just what happens when you combine impoverished rural communities, far-too-taxed law enforcement capabilities, the ready availability of specialized machinery, and an entire planet full of people trying to save a buck.

Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Emporio Armani... Farmsdale?

SHANGHAI (AFX) - The European Union is seeing an increase in the import of counterfeit goods of a potentially life-threatening nature, such as fake medications and aircraft parts, making it imperative for China to crack down on fake products, a top EU customs official said.

'It is no longer dominated by expensive luxury items or expensive watches but fake medicines, fake foodstuffs, fake children's toys, fake car spare parts and even fake spare parts for aircraft engines,' EU Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union Laszlo Kovacs told students at Shanghai's China Europe International Business School.

'It's no more a question of financial loss, it's no more a question of losing some revenue, it is a growing danger to the health, to the safety and to the lives of our citizens,' he added. (source)

Do ya feel the fear? Didja notice the mention of "foodstuffs" and "medicines"? Some things won't really won't hurt you... or so they say:

A Chinese trader who has lived in Japan for three years says trademark violation is nothing more than a legal concept in a capitalist society. ''Forged cigarettes don't kill people. Chinese who manufacture them never feel a sense of guilt,'' the trader said. (source)

...but as our collective ingenuity begins to work against us, we wind up with far, far nastier things than knock-off Von Dutch tee-shirts:

The father of a six-year-old girl who died after a receiving an illegal hepatitis A vaccine in China’s Anhui Province says doctors repeatedly assured him his daughter was fine even as she turned purple and began foaming at the mouth.

"I called the chief doctor quite a few times but got the same answer: 'You as a parent should not panic,'" the girl’s father, who asked to be identified by his surname, Li, told RFA’s Mandarin service.

"Her condition then became worse and worse. When she was sent to a makeshift emergency room, she had nonstop cramps in her hands.... There were purple patches on her body and her lips were purple too. But they kept saying she was fine, she was fine," he said.

Li Wei was hospitalized with an unspecified infection and breathing problems after receiving a dose of the vaccine, her father said.

He told RFA’s Mandarin service that he was pressured to bury her quickly as well, which he fears reflected an effort to obscure the cause of her death. (source)