Very good article. I've been in China for several years and have started a company which does factory audits as you mentioned in the article, as well as logistics and other services. The more diligence performed on potential suppliers, the safer you are. If you can even just find a Chinese speaking friend to do very basic auditing through queries over the telephone and e-mail it may be a big help.
If you want to purchase directly from factories, as a start I would suggest taking a look at some supplier directories such as alibaba.com and made-in-china.com, collecting a pool of a few potential suppliers, contacting multiple employees at those factories for details, and doing some searches on google about them. Most legitimate factories will be willing to take pictures/video of their facilities in order to get a sale; I think this is a valuable tool in avoiding unprofessional brokers and other issues.
Dashiell
Last edited by Anthony; 07-08-2007 at 10:55 PM..
Reason: Mod Edit: Signature Removed as per forum rules.