The other day an Indian reader of my site e-mailed me, asking what my opinions are about the toys made in China. He said toys from China are reported as containing toxic material for children in his country. For this reason he is hesitant to get these toys to the Indian market. In case other readers may also be interested in purchasing toys from the Chinese wholesale market, I decided to create this post for your reference.
Before you go ahead, keep in mind that my shadow understanding about the made-in-China toys is based on my own experience and research only. You are encouraged to do more research yourself in order to make a smart investment decision.
Basics about Toys for Sale in the Chinese Markets
First of all, as a Chinese, I can tell you that it is true there are some crappy toys for children which are made of unsafe material or of poor quality in the Chinese domestic market. These cheap toys are available at small stores or offered by moving street peddlers. At the same time, consumers can also buy them from online stores, especially from sellers at Taobao.com (the Chinese eBay). This is pathetic as the Chinese governments do not take strict measurements to ban such poorly made toys, which are definitely a huge threat to the health of the children.
However, toys for sale at bigger stores such as supermarkets or brand stores are generally made of safe material, covered with authoritative quality certifications, e.g. the 3C Certification (China Compulsory Certification or CCC). If you see a toy labeled with a 3C Certification, you can be confident that its material does not have any negative impact on the health or safety of the kids. Although toys meeting national quality standards are usually more expensive than those not, they are not necessarily beyond common people’s consumption capacities. I myself have bought several good quality small toy cars or trucks with 3C Certification for my little boy, each priced at around ￥8 RMB (a little more than $1 USD). Also, I purchased a four wheel electric driving car (see image on the right) with a remote control function for my son at ￥300 RMB only – the high-end ones priced at around ￥1000 RMB. The car is very fun. My son can drive it on the road by stepping on the switch while we adults can control it with the remote controller. It has a 3C certificate, by the way.
