David Looser wrote:

That assumes that all that is required to make good tubes
is the equipment. Whether or not the Chinese have the
necessary know how as well is moot.


I'm sure that the nation that invented printing, gunpowder
and bone china (amongst many other things) won't have much
problem in acquiring the necessary know-how.

Columbus set off with a Chinese map of the world, including
America in its proper location, drawn up before the Chinese
fleet was recalled because of a long period of war. As with
the UK, that fleet was made from pretty much all the trees
they had, which was a lot of trees. Then, as now, they
traded throughout the world without involving themselves in
the politics of distant places, and in the end they all went
home. Gunpowder but no guns, according to my edition of
"Shogun", in which the marauding Mongols arrive with
"thunder bombers", who set fire to bags of powder and hurl
them. Best used downhill against approaching heavy cavalry
so even if the bombers blow themselves up they still
frighten the horses. Guns arrived from Europe, much later.

The Chinese are generally well educated and just as clever
as other humans, so they aren't short of scientific and
engineering knowledge. What they must lack is an adequate
number of experienced technicians who are able to deal with
the everyday variations in industial production processes.
Not just in the assembly but also in the production of the
special materials. The machinery was made in the days when
production managers and technicians needed a real feel for
what they did.

Economically, it seems probable that the plants had become
"cash cows" before they went to China, and have remained so
since. Basically, plants producing products on the down side
of the product life cycle require little invesment and
produce cash until they eventually die. A cash cow is
typically matched with the manufacture of new products on
the rising side of the cycle, which consumes cash because of
continuous growth in turnover. Working for a cash cow is
thoroughly demoralising, especially for engineers. Patrick's
worst nightma all bean counting but with absolutely no
beans...extreme make-do-and-mend.

Anyway, for the kind of pace of development in China, plenty
of cash cows are a good alternative to debt, I guess. That's
presumably why they're buying car and aircraft plants for
old models, and countless other examples of outdated but
cheap and functional stuff.

Even if you had all the "know-how" would you, as a
businessman, invest money in producing an improved valve?
Would you replace all those worn machine tools and jigs?
Include the cost of not investing in something sensible.

It's not just the Chinese. *No-one else* was prepared to
invest in those plants. That's why they went to China.

Ian