Was ‘Made in China’ made in America?

中国制造如何从世界工厂变身科技巨头?

The Global Story

2026-07-02

29 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, all this week The Global Story is exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern world. For decades in the US, “Made in China” signified a product that was cheap, poorly made, and, in some cases, produced through exploitative labour. But today, the label signifies something quite different in many American minds - state-of-the-art tech and luxury goods that even rival America, for arguably the first time in US history. Often overlooked is the fact that China’s ascendance as an economic superpower was far from inevitable. Today we speak to historian Elizabeth Ingleson to trace the evolution of the Made in China brand and to explore what responsibility the United States had for awakening its own economic rival. Producer: Xandra Ellin and Sam Chantarasak Executive producer: James Shield Sound engineer: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • Was "Made in China" actually "Made in America"?

  • And did the US help China to become its main rival?

  • American consumerism is driven by "Made in China" products.

  • But have you ever wondered how that came to be

  • and whether that reliance is good for the United States?

  • Today on our show, we look at the origins and evolution of "Made in China",

  • because it wasn't actually inevitable.

  • From the BBC, I'm Tristan Redmond in London

  • and I'm Asma Khalid in Washington D.C.

  • And today on The Global Story,

  • how did "Made in China" go from trashy merchandise to technological marvels?

  • And did the US actually give it a leg up so that China is now its greatest rival?

  • So far this week, we've been mostly thinking about

  • how the United States came to become the power that it is now.

  • And in today's episode, we're going to be thinking about what comes next

  • and the challenger waiting in the wings, and that's China.

  • And you know, when I think about China, I will say

  • it cannot be overstated just how much economically the country has transformed over the last five or six decades.

  • You think of China going back to the 1950s and 1960s,

  • and many folks didn't really see it as an economic player.