An Interview with Sarah Bongiorni, author of A Year without “Made in China”: One Family’s True Life Adventure in the Global Economy.
Sally: I am curious to know what the impetus for this project was.
Sarah: The impetus of the project was to test, on a personal level, how interconnected we’d become as a family to the larger world of trade, and to China in particular.
Most consumers goods come from China, which is why that was the focus of our experiment, and why it proved to be such a challenge to stick to for a year.
Sally: What as your Husband’s First Reaction to this Idea?
Sarah: My husband’s first reaction, when I casually pitched the idea to him, was to say No way, not possible. I convinced him it would be fun and interesting to try, to see what would happen, and he got on board pretty quickly. I’m not sure either of us thought we’d stick with it.
Sally: What did you find to be the most difficult part of this project?
Sarah: The hardest part was remembering to check labels to see where items were from, since items made in China are pervasive in consumers’ lives. We came across everything from chocolates to wedding dresses made in China; it’s not just electronics and cheap toys, which is what a lot of folks might think. Increasingly, high-end clothing, home items, etc., are also made in China. In that sense, there was no ’safe haven’, we had to check constantly and sometimes do without some pretty basic items since we could not find an alternative made elsewhere, things like sandals for the beach, affordable sunglasses, a new coffeemaker after the old one broke.
I did come to learn and appreciate that Legos are still made in Denmark (mostly), although some are indeed made in China. But most of the well-known “American” brands, like Schwinn bikes, Timberland shoes, etc., are now made in China, so they aren’t really American any more.
Sally: How did people in your social circle respond to your adventure?
Sarah: In general, people would really get a kick out of what we were doing. I think more people notice those little “made in…” labels than you might think. Some people told us they’d tried similar experiments, but gave it up when they ran into trouble finding certain items like toys and electronics. I guess what surprised me was to discover that a lot of people were sort of thinking and wondering about these issues that we also found of interest. Some people were more politically oriented in their thinking, and there are certainly reasons for that, given China’s record on matters like work conditions, product safety, the environment. But our focus was really doing this as an experiment to try to measure as well as we could how dependent we’d become on China in our daily lives. In that sense, we sort of set the politics aside to see what we would find.
Sally: Did your effort influence or rub off on others in your immediate social circle.
Sarah: I did not try to influence others; this was our experiment and we didn’t work to get others on board. A good number of friends did try this however, when it came to trying to find gifts or other items that were not made in China. But we made it clear that we didn’t expect this.
Sally: Did you make any long term changes in your habits that you think will continue for you?
Sarah: Yes, we definitely made some long-term changes as a result of this, which wasn’t something we had intentionally set out to do. For one thing, I think we became aware of just how many things we buy, in general. And what happened was, during the year of our boycott, we just could not buy many items because there was no alternative, or in some cases no affordable alternative, for certain things. So we just did without, which often was not a big deal. In that sense, we got used to not buying things, not just reflexively reaching for something because it was cute and cheap. That has been something that stayed with us. I suppose we became more thoughtful as consumers, and more disciplined. Like anything else, you get better with practice, even when it comes to not buying things.
Sally: Did you revert to some old shopping habits when the project ended?
Sarah: We did return to buying certain things that, at this point in time, come really only from China. For example, if you want to buy a lamp, you’re going to have to be willing to buy one made in China, because there are NO lamps left in the world that don’t at least have component parts made in China. It was an interesting thing to do for a year, really very fun, but unless you would be willing to make that the central focus of your life as an ongoing thing, it would not be a way I’d want to live long-term.
We’re not really trying to actively avoid China these days so much as try to be thoughtful about what we buy, and try to “spread our dollars” among more nations, including this one.
Sally: What has the reaction been to your book?
Sarah: The reaction to the book has been generally very positive, though I think some folks wish it had been more political. I didn’t have either a free-trade or protectionist agenda, which sometimes comes as a surprise to some readers. I think trade is political, so the fact that the book really isn’t, that it’s a personal story that follows an experiment, catches some people off guard.
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