Who is really to blame for the cross-border rush to buy rice?

Regarding the popularity of Japanese rice, after the news of Chinese tourists frantically snapping it up was exposed, netizens almost unanimously criticized the Chinese tourists who rushed to buy rice for being too “wealthy,” and even elevated it to the level of “patriotism,” beginning to worry about whether it would affect the domestic rice-growing industry.

Colleague Xiao Bao said: “What is the point of carrying back 10 jin of rice? When they travel, is it just to carry back some of their own local specialty at a high price?”

Xiao Yang said: “I have money, I do as I please, so I just bought it.”

And colleague Xiao Wan was the most incisive: “Japan cannot even feed itself, so selling some high-priced rice is nothing but brand awareness, just something to eat for the sake of it. Moreover, Japan has also had ‘poisoned rice’ incidents, so is Japanese rice really something that can be eaten with 100 percent confidence?”

I think that we do not need to overinterpret the phenomenon of Chinese people rushing to buy Japanese rice. On the one hand, the high-price nature of Japanese rice determines that it cannot be widely popularized in the Chinese market. On the other hand, China's huge population determines that to solve the problem of food supply, China must mainly rely on itself, and even if domestic rice has occasional quality problems, they are only a minority phenomenon.

But regardless of whether the news is true or false, we should still thank it, because through this news it is enough for us Chinese people to seriously reflect on why products also made in China are trusted when bought abroad, and people would rather pay more and go a long way around to carry them back. To reverse the phenomenon of “cross-border rush buying,” manufacturers need to hold fast to the defense lines of quality and safety and rebuild market trust, and there is also a need to guide and shape consumer culture. Only by taking off “tinted glasses” and facing squarely the love and pain of “cross-border rush buying” will consumer behavior become more rational.