text: why are chinese products so cheap? ...how come other countries can not manufacture so cheaply a lot of workers from rural areas travel to bigger manufacturing cities, providing a nearly inexhaustible source of cheap labor. the factories themselves are modern assembly lines.   generally product development costs are not high since there is little new product development and most products are based on known, or copied, designs. china has been the most successful country is terms of "duplicating" other countries designs with almost comparably quality (although usually slightly inferior) at a lower cost basis.