As a Chinese, I have to admit that I trust American brands better than the national ones. If I want an mp3, I will go for ipod. If I need a pair of sneakers, Nike, or Adidas will do. The image of the US products is represented by brands. It doesn’t have to be made in America; it might be in Malaysia or Venezuela, yet when sealed with an American logo, it represents high quality. Yet what do we know when it comes to a Chinese product? What comes into our mind right after the words “Made in China”?

As booming development in the Sino-US trade continued in recent years, Chinese are not satisfied with providing raw materials and import expensive products anymore. Yet to move up on the ladder of success, we need to work on quality. For example, our brands are somewhat damaged by the product safety issue. Over all, Chinese brands are influenced by the whole image of China presented to the world.

I see two images of China: one is the grand opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics, and another one is portrayed by more than 10% of our 1.3 billion population, that lives under the poverty line. One is the three-day spacewalk, and the other - are crying parents with their babies poisoned. I myself as a Chinese find a big gap between these two Chinas, and I understand there is a long way ahead to narrow it. While as outsiders, American people might just as well put these images together and take the combination of them as the image of China; hence they are using the dark side as the evidence to resist the bright side.

Chinese brands struggle with two images as well. Meanwhile, Chinese people are simply losing their confidence in national brands. The lighting of the Beijing Olympics Flame by Li Ning made a great gesture, and the brand surely got tremendous publicity, but soon after we saw another picture. While the Spanish team was wearing Li Ning brand uniforms, the Chinese athletes were sporting Adidas outfits.

To be honest, we basically don’t pay that much attention on domestic brands. Yet the brands in China would play a key role in the US-China bilateral trade, and I believe that the following could be the possible answers to this problem:

Firstly, a more effective monitoring system of products safety is highly needed. Ironically, in the recent milk powder crisis, one of the main offenders, Sanlu was the “trusted brand”, and their products were exempted from mandatory government inspections. This is why many people see the milk powder issue as a result of inefficiency and bureaucracy of regulating departments. Yet under any system, the implementation is imperative. Some corrupted local governments would “protect” the industry from the exam of the central government. Last but not least, the scrutiny from media and people should have its voice heard.

Without any doubt, brands of China would play a vital role in the Sino-US trade. And the image of China would definitely influence the image of Chinese brands. It is definitely not an easy task, yet we need to take this issue as a whole. Brands in China are actually counting on the branding of China.