Visiting China in two weeks - Where's the Factory? Anyone been?

[Sky_Rocket]

I'm lucky enough to be in China in two weeks for a vacation and I have a stop over in Guandong, where I've thought a factory might be.  I'll only be there a day, but would have no problem extending if I could peek inside the pony world  

Has anyone been before?  Would any one know where I might start to try to arrange a factory visit, or if it might even be possible? 

I've googled hasbro factory, and they do list the names of their factories in China, and most that I've googled are near where I'll be.  Outside of contacting hasbro, does anyone else know how this might be arranged?

Any thoughts??

[hathorcat]

The factories are not actually Hasbro owned or managed - they are third party manufacturers which Hasbro uses to make the majority of their lines. The factories will sometimes produce more than just Hasbro items. For that reason it would be the factory/manufacturer you would need to talk to rather than Hasbro. However, I know that a lot of the really big factories/manufacturers are under written contract to not permit factory tours or outside access - it depends what they are producing and how iron clad contracts are. A lot of companies need to protect their lines and what they are producing so competitors do not find them out.

There are different scales of factory of course - some of them are large enough that they operate as stand alone towns and getting on and to these places is impossible. But you will get smaller facilities which are perhaps easier to reach and more accessible depending on factory managers.

While in China all I ever see is factories and factory tours But I am not buying toys unfortunately or anything as small. When I have done these trips in the past, I have needed to submit factory invites along with my visa request. With the exception of a couple of smaller facilities, I have always arranged such visits simply via email before I leave the country or even book flights. However, I am touring as a customer and client, therefore they are normally keen to bend over and get you access. When you are looking just to come in and look I dont know it it would be as flexible.

[Twilight Pink]

Maybe there could be merchants selling ponies on the side? ^^" ya, know like outside in little kiosk so there would'nt be any need to visit a factory

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Good luck, as Hathorcat said, if you're not already in the industry and there for business purposes, they likely won't even talk to you.  Most factories are wary of people seeing inside as there is competition who wants to know trade secrets and also, typically "behind the scenes" factory photos haven't been exactly a pinnacle of an example of worker's rights.

[Honeycomb]

Oh!! Come and see me!! Unfortunately, I have no clue where the factories might be.

Don't forget to bring waterproof clothes, you can expect lots of rain in this season!

[achab1984]

That would be something to see in person. I hope that you do luck out and find some ponies for sale.

[Galactica]

The factories are WAAAAAY out there.   And they won't let you in-  but there might be cool stuff for sale in the street markets nearby.

My aunt and uncle design cute pots for Walmart of all places, and oddly enough the Chinese manufacturers are really big on face time- so they get flown out on a regular basis to check in on the factories first hand. 

Looks like Hasbro has quite of few factories that it uses in different locations: http://csr.hasbro.com/downloads/Hasbro_factories.pdf

[PrincessGlitterBloom]

I have a similar thing happening, but with the show not the toys.
My friend is taking me to Vancouver in a couple weeks, and I recently discovered that's where DHX make FiM.
I wish they had a studio tour or something... I'm too embarrassed to ask her family to just take me to the building so I can get a selfie outside their premises...

[Sky_Rocket]

So I didn't get out to see the factory, there was no time to research where it was, and my stop over was only 19 hours.  WHich left me enough time to check out the street markets.  Such as the wholesale toy market.

And yea, I found ponies.  Factory reject blind bag ponies.  Heaven.  Pure heaven

[Miss Violet]

That's so exciting!!
 China has a lot of cool places to visit!And huge Malls!
Do you like the food?Any weird dishes ?

[hathorcat]

Woo hoo! Finding anything pony is pretty cool! Congrats.

[Sky_Rocket]

China is incredbily diverse!  I was supposed to visit the western part, Urumuqi, Hotan and Kashgar, but has to re - route the trip.  Ended up in Chendgu at the Panda Reserve after two overnight trains of 40 hours of travel.

Weirdest thing I ate?  We did a hot Pot and Pork Intestine was one of the options.  It wasn't as bad as I thought.  But I only tried one piece!  Yak was delicious - like a very moist beef. And Fried Tofu Skins - not weird, but very tasty.  It's something I'm not gonna find anywhere else.   There were other weird dishes we didn't try - plates of snails were the oddest thing.  Going to a food market there is an experience.  Saw bins of live frogs, turtles, eels and snakes.  Didn't see Dogs being sold for food, but did see Dogs being sold on the streets for pets. 

Have you been?

In terms of pony finds - next to nothing until I was in Chengdu and then Ganghou.  And then I only found them in the major department store and then factory rejects in market in Ganghou. 

[sweetiebabyfizzy]

And yea, I found ponies.  Factory reject blind bag ponies.  Heaven.  Pure heaven

Cool! Those ponies will always have an interesting story behind them.

[gabumon]

So I didn't get out to see the factory, there was no time to research where it was, and my stop over was only 19 hours.  WHich left me enough time to check out the street markets.  Such as the wholesale toy market.

And yea, I found ponies.  Factory reject blind bag ponies.  Heaven.  Pure heaven

Wow would love to see! When you get time, of course.