Are you sure the factory you’re visiting in China is a real one?

“Factory-theater” is a real thing you can face during sourcing in China. When partners or clients come for a visit, a Chinese supplier may bring in a full team to imitate intense production activity. Workers, machines, instruments, boxes, ready-to-ship goods — all of those can be fake.

In reality, the product may not be made there at all. The supplier may source it from other factories, resell it as their own, test demand, earn money, and only later start building their own manufacturing capability. That’s the “fake it till you make it” mindset in practice. In this respect, they differ significantly from the West.

Western businesses often spend a long time preparing: building processes, polishing details, investing heavily, and aiming to launch one product close to “ideal.” Many Chinese businesses do the opposite. They make multiple attempts early, without waiting for a perfect result. They try, launch, and iterate.

Most foreigners would call it a scam. But not in China. From their perspective, it’s part of a business model — and part of the sales script. Many overseas buyers refuse to work with “middlemen,” so the supplier wants to look like a manufacturer — and stages what the buyer expects to see.