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I came across a website/ forums for Chinese tractor owners. It was really sad- stories of how the mainframe casting broke the first time they used it, etc., etc.- guys were selling parts from their disabled units to those still trying to keep theirs going, etc. I guess I'd stay away, at least for now. This is a familiar pattern- remember, after WWII, how Japan started making stuff to sell to us, and it was complete garbage- "cheap Jap junk", we called it. Kewpie dolls, cigarette lighters, novelties. But eventually, they got better at it, and now, their cars and other hi-end manufactured goods are better than ours. The Koreans are about mid- cycle- their Hyundais and Kias were laughable in the beginning, but are gaining real credibility in the market now. The Chinese are still in the "make some crud, sell some crud" stage now, but you can bet that they will eventually get it figured out. I read an analysis by a manufacturing expert, and he said the sequence of events is predictable. You can't start right out making high end products, because you don't have a good enough reputation to be able to sell them for enough to recoup costs. So you make crummy stuff, really cheap, to get a toe-hold in the market, then increase your quality once you get a cash flow going from the cheap junk, because you can always sell cheap stuff to the bargain hunters.
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