I wonder about China's future on the world scene.

I believe that in China there are too many "short cuts" at times. The melamine in the milk scandal might help to explain what I mean. There seems to be a tradition of "making do", or "doing the least to look the best", or taking the easy way to do something, or to make something, that is not necessarily the safest and best idea long term.

Someone involved in the milk scandal realised that more profit could be made by adding water and melamine to milk, but the consequences of humans ingesting this plastic powder were not thought out properly. Someone must have known, some people must have known, when they started using the melamine, that sooner or later it would be found out. And that there may be consequences of putting such a product into milk. A company which appears to be right in the midst of all this scandal has suffered badly, and so has its employees, and its suppliers. In the end the only ones that "won" were those that made a big profit - and I wonder how much of their profits they have remaining.

The fact that so many people - children - have been affected by the greed of some people - is very distasteful to all who know the story. I believe(and I stand to be corrected if this information is not true), that at leat 4 babies died as a result of the melamine in milk issue, and over 50,000 were treated for health problems as a result of this.

I'd also like to add how disappointed I am that so many women in China (indeed all over the world) choose to have manufactured milk products as their preferred milk preparation for precious little babies when mother's milk - created naturally by the mother's body- is not the preferred method of feeding babies. Sure, I understand the challenges of working mothers and I know that here in China working mothers return to the workforce soon after the baby is born. Other countries in the world have learned that it is best for the mother and baby to take some time to bond.

Is this another "short cut" that is not in the long run the best for the Chinese people? I am not certain that mothers understand the long term consequences of feeding babies and young children on so much processed food. Natural will always be better.

It is only a short time since the scandal of the toys that were manufactured in China - and manufactured NOT to the standards required by the US marketers of such products. Again a terrible scandal for all involved and not a good look for China.

I often wonder if the people of China know that some of the items they purchase here are not of the same standards that are required in countries like USA, Canada, UK, Europe, and Australia. Do Chinese people know that there are higher standards elsewhere, and that they are being a little "short changed" even though the products are made in their own country?