Q:The Standard of mainland production

Sing：If a customer wants a Spanish villa or a Ferrari, I will call mainland China and ask the factory there to produce it. If the customer prefers local production, we will find a master in Hong Kong.

Interviewer: You only make the most basic things like houses and gardens?

Sing：Yes! Yes! Basic ones, if you want special ones…

Interviewer: Need to find others to make?

Sing：Yes! Or get one from mainland China.

If a customer insists it to be made in Hong Kong, then will find a local master. Everyone can come and observe the production process everyday. But the price will be much higher.

Although the paper offerings produced in mainland China are cheap, the materials used there are not the traditional bamboo and papers. Computers are used and the quality of handicraft is therefore lower. Local production is more expensive, but since they are all made manually, the quality is higher.

Analysis

As suggested by Sing, nowadays the customers prefer new products. And owing to the higher price of local production, usually these new products are made in mainland China. In Hong Kong, the paper offerings usually made are the basic ones like houses and gardens. Nobody would learn making new products because of the high price.

Without young people joining the industry, the paper offerings industry in Hong Kong may become extinct in the near future. Facing the competition from mainland China, it is extremely difficult for the paper offerings industry in Hong Kong to survive. For those older paper offerings masters, they also face a harsh environment because of the ever decreasing number of orders and the lower incomes earned nowadays.