Can We Live Without China?

The title of A Year Without "Made in China:" One Family's True Life Adventures in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni is pretty self-explanatory. On Christmas Day, the author looks around her living room and notices that she is surrounded by products made in China. Wondering whether China is truly taking over the world, she decides to see if her family can survive for an entire year without buying any products that are made in China. The project turns out to be more difficult than she imagined. When her 4-year old son needs new tennis shoes, she ends up having to order a $65 pair of Italian tennis shoes, because all the tennis shoes in the stores are made in China. When her husband's sunglasses break, he must resort to wearing a pair of glacier climbing glasses until an inexpensive non-China pair can be found. And of course, toys are a huge issue. With two small children, supplying them with toys is nearly impossible. Inflatable pools, beach toys, Halloween decorations and light swords are all made in China. An invitation to a birthday party means a gift of Legos, since that is the only toy to be found that isn't made in China (although even that company begins manufacturing some of their toys in China). It's quite funny when her son walks through the toy aisles picking up toys and muttering "China" before returning them to the shelves. By the end of the year, her son is begging for "China things." Although you don't really learn anything about China and there is a lack of factual information to back up her study, the author's attempts to live China-free are amusing and even eye-opening. A quick, amusing read, but not for someone looking for hard facts.