What are the Larger Trends Taking Place in Chinese Manufacturing Right Now?

There is quite a bit of speculation regarding the direction of the Chinese economy in the future and US-China relations. As soon as this is written, conditions may have changed. Generally speaking, labor wages are increasing, labor laws are changing (for better or worse, depending on who you talk to), and costs are going up. In addition, many factories who now have many years of experience supplying product to companies in developed economies, have improved their capabilities to offer very competitive quality, service, and R&D, in addition to low costs. For those that can no longer rely on rock-bottom labor wages to be competitive, they must now learn and implement more efficient operational techniques to keep costs low. Thus, the challenge for those sourcing factories in China is still finding the suppliers with the right mix of capabilities and cost.