Cutting Ties With China Is Harder Than Companies Expected
As US toymaker Learning Resources tries to wean itself from mainland producers, it’s discovering that it’s easier to move your factory out of China than it is to move China out of your factory.
Painting toys at Dong Phuong.
Photographer: Maika Elan/Bloomberg
The Dong Phuong toy factory lies in the town of Phu Ly, a two-hour drive south of the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi. But you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s in China. Chinese characters greet visitors on the giant stone sign out front. The gate faces north, and just inside there’s a pond oriented toward the northeast filled with koi fish—feng shui touches intended to bring good energy and luck. And the management is almost entirely Chinese, because the plant is owned by a company that hails from the mainland city of Zhejiang.
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