Consumer China

Sending white elephants to the countryside

  • Published 05 Mar 2009

How effective are government attempts to encourage sales of white goods in rural China? China Confidential investigates.

Don’t be fooled by its somewhat quirky name. “Sending white goods to the countryside” was not planned as an exercise in frivolity. It is a campaign at the front and centre of China’s attempts to boost rural demand to offset the convulsions in export manufacturing. The hope is that farmers – galvanised by new subsidies – will start to snap up the fridges, air conditioners, televisions and other appliances that have been piling up on factory shelves. As such, the scheme is also an early test of China’s capacity to find within itself the resilience of a continental economy.

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