This year has seen Chinese products regularly hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons, raising serious concerns about quality control and the qualitative value of Chinese exports. In the latest round of recalls, of toys unsurprisingly , Xinhua News agency reported last week that the Chinese government’s quality control administration was suspending exports of toys covered with a toxic chemical or so-called date-rape drug as nine children in the U.S. were taken ill after ingesting toy beads coated with a toxic chemical. Attempting to buttress China’s tarnised exporting reputation, the government has increased inspections and punishments and launched a public campaign to boost quality control in China. Now Chinese toy makers, The Economic Observer reported recently, are going on the offensive to restore trust in the ‘Made in China’ brand. In a law suit expected to be filed by toy industry players from Guandong under an umbrella body, China’s toy manufactuers are taking on American toy giant Mattel after the company announced a recall of 21 million China-made toys during August. Yet although fifteen percent of the recalled toys were found to contain excessive qualities of lead, Mattel admitted subsequently that the majority of products were flawed as a result of the way Mattel designed them. Yet for the Guandong toy companies picking a fight with Mattel, part of the province’s overbearing share (70%) of the total Chinese toy production, the consequences of Mattel’s recalls are far-reaching: following the incident with Mattel, Guandong toy exports contracted by 5.776 million dollars in September compared to the previous month.