Survey: China's Best Brands

[chengdude]

Inspired in equal parts by this article:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/FJ05Ad03.html

and the rapidly devolving thread bemoaning the poor quality of chinese goods, which Chinese brands in your experience would qualify as "the best" using any combination of criteria (price, quality, etc. etc.)?

Please try to limit answers to those products you own/have owned/have used...so unless you've got a Haier washing machine or a Shanling hybrid CD deck, try not to repeat ad nauseum someone else's review or the Ministry of Commerce's opinion.

Also, try to name brands/products that are designed in China as well...I've shopped for a Hualu DVD player, all models of which seemed to perform admirably, but they're really just a Panasonic at heart as Hualu is Panasonic's partner in China.

My votes so far:

BBK: (AKA BuBuGao) Most of their DVD players are rather ordinary-looking, but their DV-501 & 701-705 series are compact, great looking, do everything, and have a nice heft. No problems with mine yet and I'd like to upgrade models within the series, so if anyone's looking for a very slightly used BBK...

MICROLAB: A full range of PC/multimedia louspeakers with nice designs and better-than-average build quality. I'd also like to upgrade one of the 2 pairs I own, so again, if anyone's looking...

QIANFENG: They make those crazy, wall-mounted gas water heaters. Mine's got battery-powered electronic ignition and a digital readout for the water temperature. Works great; smooth and relatively silent. Much better than others I've used/seen that look and sound as though they're going to explode every time you turn on the water.

KANG SHIFU: A mega snack foods company with utterly consistent quality. I like their jumbo, 126g packages of instant noodles, especially the cong xiang niu rou mian...neutral flavor you can doctor to your own specifications and one of the few types of fangbian mian (including the other offerings from Kang Shifu) that actually keeps the dehydrated vegetables in a separate packet (packed together with the salt doesn't count). Makes me think that at least I'm getting some veggies in an otherwise nutritionally bankrupt meal.

CONCH: A nice brand for shirts.

BAOWEI: A nice brand for pants.

GWEAT: A nice brand for sports/athletic wear. Good polo-style shirts. Rhymes with sweat? Great? They need to do an ad with Tony The Tiger imitating Elmer Fudd: "They'rrre Gwwweat!!"

ZHONGNANHAI: I don't know what kind of herbs they use in their "herbal blend," but I really like their 5mg smokes. Smooth, tasty, and definitely unique among China's legion of cigarette labels. The 8's and 10's are too strong for me. Limited distribution on the 5's and 8's though, as only the 10's are sold in my neck of the woods. Thankfully, I've weaned myself down to Kent 1mg's otherwise I'd be coughing and spitting with the best of them.

YANJING: Adding a beer label will probably open the floodgates, but Yanjing is the only widely distributed beer in China that doesn't taste like a dead animal is an integral component of the brewing process. I'm sure there are plenty of tasty regionals, just not where I live.

LIN JIA PU ZI: I don't know if that's the brand or not, but these strawberry preserves I just found at Carrefour are outstanding...a very high fruit-to-goo ratio and not cavity-inducingly sweet. Beats every other brand, foreign or domestic, that I've tried.

LA CLOVER

TRIUMPH

AIMER: China is the world's biggest exporter of bras and these 3 labels, from my own extensive research, are the best out there for all manner of women's underwear and lingerie. La Clover, especially, makes really high-end stuff (high-end prices too). And no, it's not a fetish, they were a gift.

[geraldc]

Clothing brands

Li Ning sportswear. Logo looks a bit like Nike's, but the pair of trainers I owned were good.

If you include Hong Kong brands. Is there anyone who doesn't like Giordano, Bossini, etc etc?

[madizi]

Qingdao beer

Changshou (Long life ) cigarettes

[skylee]

I am ashamed that I had named a Hong Kong-founded company and a chain with a Japanese name (though the snacks it sell is not really of Japanese-style) here so I have deleted them.

[chengdude]

I can't believe I forgot:

YILI: Pride of Inner Mongolia with as wide and consistent a distribution network as seems possible in China. To my knowledge, the only domestic dairy that offers whole, low-fat/high calcium, and skim milk. I find the taste better than other locals and multinationals (a certain Swiss hydra included). Their ice cream snacks are great too, especially Yili Ku Kafei (bitter coffee ice cream dipped in chocolate on a stick.

I was hoping to stay away from Hong Kong-founded companies as they matured under a completely different set of rules...and I must admit, when asked for China's best brands, I didn't think someone would nominate a chain with a Japanese name selling mostly Japanese/Japanese-style junk foods. There's a branch or two where I live as well and they do seem to be pretty popular.

[Asami]

can any girls here suggest some cosmetic brand..: P

[chengdude]

For the moment, the only brand that comes close to qualifying as "China's Best" is YUE-SAI, although its fame probably has more to do with the charisma of its founder, Yue-Sai Kan, than with the actual quality of the products.

Although there are many small companies marketing various lotions, creams, and what-not, the cosmetics business in China already seems dominated by multinationals, from supermarket brands like P&G's Olay at the bottom to French brands like Guerlain, L'Oreal, Chanel, etc. at the top... and American and Japanese companies somewhere in the middle. A walk through the cosmetics department of a department store in China is pretty much like walking through one anywhere else in the world, with the exception that lower-end brands like Maybelline and Cover Girl are marketed as being much more upscale than they actually are. Even the layout is the same: always right at the entrance to grab the prospective buyer as soon as she walks in.

[Asami]

i see

i have to agree..

most of the products that are on sale in taogao is likely to be multinational..mostly us and jap...

ps... i just remember a chinese brand..KangNai..the shoe brand..

i just recall it when i saw my mom's shoe this morning..funny..huh