Made in PRC

[rp2813]

I noticed this information printed on a box of cheap merchandise recently. Could it be that manufacturers have become worried that the words "made in China" would possibly turn a buyer off?

 

[sudsmaster]

I think PRC stands for People's Republic of China, and this used to be the way most stuff from there was labeled, to distinguish it from Taiwan, which used to call itself China as well (I think they referred to themselves as ROC or Republic of China, which was a bit confusing). But now that virtually the entire globe agrees that Taiwan is really part of China, the term "China" only means the mainland nation.

So perhaps the stuff you got was using old packaging or labeling.

 

[rp2813]

Yeah Rich, I interpret PRC as some dark and smoky industrial corner of mainland China. Never thought that the packaging could be old but your theory makes sense.

Ralph

 

[sudsmaster]

I've also noticed that Chinese mfg's are loathe to dispose of old printing/silkscreen templates when the produce more of a product that has been around for a long time (like tea in tins). So that stuff could say PRC or People's Republic of China as well, even though it's new stock.

 

[petek]

The times I've seen it I figure they're just trying to disguise the fact it's made in China. OTOH the proper name for China is the PRC just as America is the USA. There is no country called America technically same with China as I understand it.

 

[carlstock]

As said here already, “PRC” does indeed stand for the “People’s Republic of China”, which is of course the official name for what we call China.

Taiwan has often been known as Taiwan ROC (Republic of China). What happened after mainland China (now PRC) turned Communist is that the previous Government of China fled to the island of Taiwan; hence the name Taiwan ROC. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1970s that the People’s Republic of China was formally recognised as the legitimate country to represent mainland China – the old Taiwan ROC government was still recognised as the legitimate government for the whole of China, including the mainland, until then!

The People’s Republic of China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will enforce that militarily should Taiwan declare independence.

I have some modern products – hi-fi equipment mainly – that has a very discreet, removable sticker on the rear with “Made under licence in PRC”. This is British-engineered hi-fi equipment that is made in China. It’s very good actually. There is still quite a bit of British hi-fi equipment designed *and* made in the UK as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China

 

[westyslantfront]

I remember when PRC was "Red China". With all the Haiers made in China these days, I am sure Chairman Mao is pleased. Who would have ever thought to buy a Chinese washing machine years ago?

Ross

 

[sudsmaster]

I confess to a certain fascination with early "red" Chinese products. They were generally few and far between on these shores, for political reasons mostly. But there was a shop in Berkeley that opened up in the 70's that featured propaganda and various trinkets make in what we called then "Mainland China". Being a Berkeleyite, I remember being corrected more than once for using the term "mainland", because of coure even back then it was considered more "correct" to recognize that Taiwan was a pretender and the PRC was the real China. Which of course, it is, but I'm now in the camp that thinks Taiwan should give the island back to the Formosans, who were overwhelmed by the Nationalists when they fled in defeat from Mao back in the late 40's.