Fake eggs are still going strong in China, despite the hilarity of it all to people outside of the Mainland PRC. In the few English-language sites that have picked up on this story, the whole idea seems absurd. The major theme across the English-language sites is Hoax! mostly due to the small profit margin to be made and perhaps just the sheer comedy of making fake eggs for a living.
Danwei.org published a small report in 2004 and several blogs reported on fake eggs such as The Raw Feed and Chinaview (in 2007 and 2006), but a look at the stories from Chinese language sources (below) show that the problem is still there, if not bigger than before. Additionally, most of these “ads” and reports are dated 2009.
I wish I could laugh along with you, but unfortunately I love eggs and live in China.
The profit margin for fake eggs, estimated at USD$70 per day, is more than enough for the common Chinese to engage in the business and there’s nothing China’s poor won’t do to get ahead. The list of faulty (or deadly) products coming out of China is long and will continue to lengthen for some time to come. It’s simply a matter of economy and history.
Knowing this, I have decided to give up eggs for a while.
A cursory search of Chinese language news sites brought up more than 8,000 hits for “man-made eggs” including numerous news reports, instructional videos and most galling of all, dozens of ads for training manuals for interested entrepreneurs.
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