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Original Source: http://www.rogue-market.com/f119/gw-china-price-rise-2107.html#post15997




I've kept this info.. to myself. I am not making any accusations, this post is just a tally of some interesting 'facts' I found via google and some other research.

Keep it clean - and lets discuss!








SOURCE:
GAMES WORKSHOP(SHANGHAI)CO.,LTD: Detailed Company Information, Imports & Exports


Granted - this WAS a copy back in 2007, but this brings revelation - that there is a GW(Shanghai).



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Games Workshop Company Description


Source:
http://www.hoovers.com/games-workshop/--ID__100616--/free-co-profile.xhtml

Games Workshop Company Description

Games Workshop (GW) lets ferocious armies clash without the drawback of actual bloodshed. Founded in 1976, the company designs and manufactures model soldiers, game systems, and accessories for tabletop wargaming. Popular game lines include Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, and The Lord of the Rings. It sells its products through more than 340 of its Games Workshop hobby stores (about half of sales), its catalogs, and Web site, as well as in over 3,700 toy and hobby shops globally. It has production facilities in the UK, China, and US, and five sales offices in Europe. GW also publishes a monthly hobby magazine called White Dwarf (available in five languages) and the Black Library (graphic novels and comics).

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Google Maps (doesn't show anything though)

http://home.wangjianshuo.com/scripts/map/?rx=4997&ry=1251&text=Games%20Workshop%20SH


but the root of this website shows -

Wangjianshuo's blog
Events (in Shanghai) that affect my life (and others')

A blogger from china who pinpointed.. the ominius GW shanghai..

(emailed the guy for more info! lol)


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China Briefing for GW


Employee teaching at the University of London.



SOURCE: SOAS Interface: Tailored Briefings: China Briefing for Games Workshop (1 day)

China Briefing for Games Workshop (1 day)

Morning sessions - Setting China in context

[*]The significance of geography
[*]History at a glance
[*]Development of Chinese culture and society
[*]The role of Confucianism
[*]The role of the family
[*]The development of trade
[*]The group versus the individual
[*]The Chinese language
[*]The changing face of China

Afternoon sessions – Doing Business with China

[*]Behaviour in the workplace
[*]Customs and etiquette in a business environment
[*]Hierarchy and decision-making
[*]Developing relationships
[*]Effective communication
[*]Common misunderstandings and how to avoid them
[*]Socialising and entertaining
[*]Q & A

Seems like a nice lesson plan to understand a place~


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Lead paints from China?

SOURCE:
The Workbench: Say No to Games Workshop Paints

:Three toys were found to contain detectable levels of lead when tested by a team at the U of O laboratory: a Warhammer Battle for Skull miniatures paint set, a Pirate Play-set figurine purchased from a dollar store and a puzzle cube from a dollar store.

Original Source: http://www.rogue-market.com/f119/gw-china-price-rise-2107.html#post15997

Interesting.

As Dakka's man in Red China I can add some stuff to this. (I'm using a proxy server hence my US flag today).

There are no GW stores in China.

There are however independent stores that carry GW stuff and they are growing. When I arrived there were 2 in Shanghai (called Zark) and none in Beijing. Now there are THREE in Beijing and internet sales are growing.

There is an 'official rep' for GW here and GW's international markets rep came for a modeling show in October. There is an official or semi-official Chinese translation of the 40k rules, done by a Chinese-Candian medical stuent I know.

Things are still growing, I see a lot of unpainted armies held together with blue tac but that's how it starts.

Two shops have been featured on TV here.

Interestingly one of the main things that brought people is is Dawn of War.

rather interesting.

Still wondering about production in china though?

Have any clue on that?


Otherwise.. China's economy is growing.. so time for some extra money spending on GW heh~

Wasn't the new Fantasy army whisperings focused around a force being Cathay themed?

AgeOfEgos wrote:Wasn't the new Fantasy army whisperings focused around a force being Cathay themed?

I thought that resulted in the mongol looking ogre kingdom?

It'll be interesting to see the reactions when the Mongorian-resembling Ogres start busting down walls.

Shanghai manufactures alot of the print material (codexes) and the black figure cases

GW Shanghai might just be a raw materials procurement agency. I know for a fact that Memphis was set up to be producing plastic and metal.

It'll be interesting to see the reactions when the Mongorian-resembling Ogres start busting down walls.

As wong as those dang mongorians stay away from my sheety wok!

InquisitorFabius wrote:GW Shanghai might just be a raw materials procurement agency. I know for a fact that Memphis was set up to be producing plastic and metal.

Very possible, aren't bases now manufactured in China? And there is their printing.

And yeah, while China on average is a developing country, that's an average spread across 1.3 billion people. It's become one of the largest market for luxery goods in the world, not knock offs, the real guccis and pradas.

So this has potential for GW, if they would get serious about translation and distribution.

How do prices compare with GW in other countries? I know in Japan the markup is ridiculously higher than the exchange rate would suggest.

Pretty bad here too. The Stromlord was 900 RMB which is US$140. Normal US$35 squads are about 280RMB (US$44).

I get a 15% discount at my shop though and I believe in pay where you play.

Plus I have my big ole expat salary which makes things a lot easier. I just pretend I'm collecting forgeworld.

As an ex-staffer I can tell ya that we were told that the facility in Shanghai was set up to allow GW to produce products in house that they had in the past had to get produced externally. So paints, codex, cases, tools and some scenics stuff such as basing materials. Miniatures were not in the plans as a lack of copyright/counterfit laws!!!

Thats how it was explained at one of the last National Managers Meetings here in the UK.

The real question is when will the cheap china knock offs be made available.

Forget about the fact that they have lax to no care in the world about copyrights, when will the real bits sevice start up?


I needs me some cheap bits!

that's probably why no minis are being manufactured there

i ordered 6 pots of babad black from an online store (US based) and the bottles came in their 6 bottle case, a sticker on the top said GAMES WORKSHOP SHANGHAI

I bought a Citadel Woods box this weekend. There was a sticker on the box that said "Made in China." I hadn't seen that before.

AgeOfEgos wrote:Wasn't the new Fantasy army whisperings focused around a force being Cathay themed?

God, I hope not.

Thankfully, GW will have to do India / "Ind" and then Thailand / Siam as they slowly progress down the silk road to China / Cathay. So that means they can have their heads kicked in by "friendly" ex-British Indians for the resulting offensive ethnic / racist stereotypes that will inevitably result before we get to less-friendly Chinese who hold deeper grudges.

If GW can't get some ethnic Asians on staff to help vet these kinds of things for pure offensiveness, they shouldn't even bother.

JohnHwangDD wrote:

AgeOfEgos wrote:Wasn't the new Fantasy army whisperings focused around a force being Cathay themed?

God, I hope not.

Thankfully, GW will have to do India / "Ind" and then Thailand / Siam as they slowly progress down the silk road to China / Cathay. So that means they can have their heads kicked in by "friendly" ex-British Indians for the resulting offensive ethnic / racist stereotypes that will inevitably result before we get to less-friendly Chinese who hold deeper grudges.

If GW can't get some ethnic Asians on staff to help vet these kinds of things for pure offensiveness, they shouldn't even bother.

OR, they can just go ahead and produce good miniatures and a sweet set of rules that give the army flavor, and not really worry about the small percentage of their customer base with skin thinner than the pages in their books.

@Lordhat: In that case, I invite you to share your notions of ethnic "flavor" in a suitably ethnic local bar. They may be a small percentage of the AZ population, but I'll bet the could teach you a thing or two about proper flavor.

All warhammer armies are reminiscent of some ancient civilization. Why should they make an exception for China, not to mention generic "The East".
I didn't see anyone going crazy when they released ogre kingdoms.

It is one thing to pay homage to some historical force. It is another to engage in crude racial and ethnic stereotyping.

In the case of Ogre Kingdoms, there aren't any RL races / ethnicities of giant ogres, so it's not nearly the same issue.

In the case of Ind / Cathay, there are over 1 billion of each in the real world, and these would be represented by human forces. Based on GW's past history, when they do (or even reference) non-European humans, the result is nearly without exception highly offensive (e.g. Pygmies, etc.).

Hence, my recommendation and preference for GW to simply avoid the issue entirely until such time as they are able to do so in a non-offensive fashion.

So you would be more offended if they had an army of humans with ancient Chinese style everything, than if they represented the Chinese as dog people?

JohnHwangDD wrote:
In the case of Ogre Kingdoms, there aren't any RL races / ethnicities of giant ogres, so it's not nearly the same issue.

So Mongol Ogres aren't offensive despite the fact that much of the Western world regarded the word 'Mongol' as interchangeable with 'Ogre' for a good bit of history? You do know that there is a place called Mongolia, and that there are people called Mongols, right?

JohnHwangDD wrote:
In the case of Ind / Cathay, there are over 1 billion of each in the real world, and these would be represented by human forces. Based on GW's past history, when they do (or even reference) non-European humans, the result is nearly without exception highly offensive (e.g. Pygmies, etc.).

Why would they be represented by human forces? And why would a non-human forced be less offensive than a human one?

Oh John, you silly bastard!

Apparently Zark has also opened a new place. It's meant to be THE place to game. No selling, no buying, just tables to play on. Am gonna have to find out more about it on sat. Kid Kyoto, if you ever find yourself in SH lemme know and I will free some time to give you a game.

On another note, I would love to see more people in China (specifically Shanghai) playing 40k. We have a core 10-15 people at Zarks and most of them prefer fantasy. However a few more youngsters have recently been making regular appearances...things could be changing.

JohnHwangDD wrote:@Lordhat: In that case, I invite you to share your notions of ethnic "flavor" in a suitably ethnic local bar. They may be a small percentage of the AZ population, but I'll bet the could teach you a thing or two about proper flavor.

I see your point, but it's not the same thing. I wasn't suggesting GW be DELIBERATELY offensive, however I DO believe a lot of people go really far out of their way to find things to be offended about. It's a minitature toy company, NOT a government run facility. Unless GW threw down some seriously blatant slurs as 'flavor' I don't see the problem. And unlike a lot of people seem to feel, just because the race isn't caucasian doesn't mean that they never did anything to be ashamed about (Maybe the mongols deserved their nickname?) or that portraying a some of a people's more unsavory aspects is a criminal offense.

Yes, people have the right to get offended, but that doesn't mean that they should go out and LOOK for excuses to be so.

Back on topic.......

I live in Shanghai 3-4 months a year, supporting production, procurment and export for Notebook computers. Our local office and those of many of our supply base are in WaiGaoQiao and the greater Shanghai area.

WaiGaoQiao is a Free Trade zone, specifically for export to foreign markets. I doubt this is a retail location, more than likely a trade or logistics related office. Any actual production is probably from 3rd parties, then co-orindated through the GW WGQ office.

FWIW I also know that packaging related materials are sourced by GW from China, so this could be the soruce of the shipping label.

ETA: I wil be back in early May with meetings in WaiGaoQiao, so maybe I'll just stop by their listed address

ph34r wrote:So you would be more offended if they had an army of humans with ancient Chinese style everything, than if they represented the Chinese as dog people?

First, GW isn't going to do ancient Chinese in WFB. It's *Fantasy* Battles, not Ancient Battles.

Second, dog people would obviously be offensive, and you know it.
___

dogma wrote:

JohnHwangDD wrote:
In the case of Ogre Kingdoms, there aren't any RL races / ethnicities of giant ogres, so it's not nearly the same issue.

So Mongol Ogres aren't offensive despite the fact that much of the Western world regarded the word 'Mongol' as interchangeable with 'Ogre' for a good bit of history? You do know that there is a place called Mongolia, and that there are people called Mongols, right?

JohnHwangDD wrote:
In the case of Ind / Cathay, there are over 1 billion of each in the real world, and these would be represented by human forces. Based on GW's past history, when they do (or even reference) non-European humans, the result is nearly without exception highly offensive (e.g. Pygmies, etc.).

Why would they be represented by human forces? And why would a non-human forced be less offensive than a human one?

"Mongol" == Ogre? Really? News to me. If so, and I were Mongolian, I'd be tempted to track down the OK author and kick his ass over it. Anyhow, it's just all the more reason that GW shouldn't go any further with any eastern expansion of the WFB universe.

If China == Dragons, then that's pure Fantasy, so it's not really China. But if you've got what are clearly Chinese people, then that's a problem.
____

Lordhat wrote:I see your point, but it's not the same thing. I wasn't suggesting GW be DELIBERATELY offensive,

I understand, and I doubt that GW would be deliberately offensive. But based on their history and actual actions, they have a clear record and history of doing things that are clearly and obviously offensive. So the likelihood is that they will be offensive - I just don't believe that GW has the internal mechanisms in place to prevent doing so.

As above, if I were Mongolian and knew of the link, someone would be getting an untempered earful of invective.

@JHDD how about
西遊記 (Journey to the West).
Of course they would need copy rights ( or rip off same way dragonball and countless other movies / anime did )

Though if some how they did manage, they are garunteed to never run out of ideas just from the sheer amount
of characters / monsters in that novel.