Chinese Quotes

This is a selection of my favorite Chinese quotes. The quotes themselves are inspiring, the people who said them legendary.

Chinese Quotes
English Chinese Source
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like 生命是一连串的自发的自然变化。逆流而动只会徒增伤悲。接受现实,万物自然循着规律发展。 Lao Zi
It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice 不管黑猫白猫,能抓到老鼠的就是好猫。 Deng Xiao Ping
To be rich is glorious. 富裕光荣 Deng Xiao Ping
Never tire to study and teach others 学而不厌,诲人不倦 Confucius
The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step 千里之行,始于足下 Lao Zi
Opportunities multiply as they are seized Sun Zi
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall Confucius
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared Buddha
Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are 欲擒故纵 Chinese proverb
Holding on anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned 一直生气就犹如抓住热碳一样,欲想将它扔给别人,但被烧伤的却是自己 Buddha
Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it 万物皆有其美,唯慧眼能识之 Confucious
An inch of time cannot be bought with an inch of gold,an inch of time cannot be bought with an inch of gold 一寸光阴一寸金,寸金难买寸光阴 Wang Zhenbai
Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand 不闻不若闻之,闻之不若见之;见之不若知之,知之不若行之;学至於行而止矣。 Confucious
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like 生命是一连串的自发的自然变化。逆流而动只会徒增伤悲。接受现实,万物自然循着规律发展。 Zhuang zi
Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come 近者悦,远者来 Lunyu
Never admire a man by his strength; judge him in how he uses it
A way is made by walking it Zhuang Zi
Right is not right; so is not so. If right were really right it would differ so clearly from not right that there would be no need for argument. If so were really so, it would differ so clearly from not so that there would be no need for argument. Zhuang Zi
If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a month, get married. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody 假如你想快乐一个小时,就去睡个午觉;一整天,就去钓鱼;一个月,就去结婚;一整年,继承一笔遗产;一辈子,去帮助別人。
Knowing is not enough we must apply. Willing is not enough we must do 光是知道是不够的,我们必须去应用;光是希望是不够,我们必须去做 Bruce Lee

My Top-10 QC Tools

This list contains my favorite QC Tools. Which tools do you use?
1. Calipers & Measuring lint: As the Dutch saying goes (and as been repeated over a million times during my years in college studying Engineering) “meten is weten”, translated into “measuring is knowing”
Callipers Measuring Lint.jpg

2. Fabric Sample Cutter: To cut a round piece of exactly 100cm2 from any fabric (diameter about 11.3cm). You can then measure this on your scale to know the grams-weight of the fabric. If the piece you cut out is for example 2.2 grams, you know the grams-weight of the fabric is 220gsm. Very useful as price of fabric is influenced substantially by weight
Sample fabric cutter.png

3. Magnet for stainless Steel & Medicine: You ordered Stainless Steel 304, but did you get it? The most simple way to check is by a using a magnet. If the material is magnetic, it means it is not Stainless 304.
An alternative is using a chemical liquid test. When putting the liquid on the steel surface the surface color will change. The color it changes into reveals the chemical composition and thus the stainless steel type.
Note: These methods are not fault proof and in some cases not accepted by factories. If an official test report is required contact your SGS laboratory.
Yaoshui.jpg

4. Pantone Colorbook: I cant live without mine anymore. It has helped me in so many orders confirming the product color, making discussions with factories, and getting colors for product range uniform. There are a few other color matching systems like CMYK and RAL but you will find PMS is the standard in China and almost any factory will ask you for a PMS color. Tip: always check colors under white light, or daylight (indirect sunlight). Allow your supplier a tolerance or variation of 1 shade.
PMSbook.gif

5. USB Barcode scanner: Its a cheap way to check if the barcodes have been printed properly and readable or not. I bought my Barcode scanner on Taobao.com for a little over 100rmb. Not a bad investment as getting news from your clients the barcodes cannot be read will cost a lot more
USB barcode scanner 2.jpg

6. Lighter: If you want to know what kind of plastic your supplier used for your product use your lighter for a burn test.
Different plastics burn differently (smell, drops or not, color of the flame). Have a look at the following video:

<iframe width=”420″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/4EEwldmZg8g” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
Now check out below table and learn how to identify different types of plastics (copyright http://www.boedeker.com/burntest.htm)

http://www.boedeker.com/bpi-burn.pdf

Tip: for plastic there are a whole lot more ways to test. Check out this article on ehow which tells you how you can use your fingernail, a drop-test, or a bucket of water to identify plastic: http://www.ehow.com/way_5754727_plastic-welding-guide.html
Finally: the same 50 cents investment in the lighter can also help you identify different types of fabrics by burning yarns. Check this tutorial in Youtube and get inspired:
<iframe width=”640″ height=”480″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/PrlIdEbMvIg” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

7. Precise digital measuring scale: One of the first investments you should make. A good measuring scale is too big to carry in your bag. We have an imported scale from Taiwan (www.excell-scale.com). It cost about 800rmb. Weighs 0.1grams precise (yes, a big wind will be measured) and up to 5kg
Excell-scale.jpg

8. UV Marker + black light: When you take out bad samples during inspection in factory mark them with a UV marker, preferably when no-one is watching. When you later use your black light you can see if indeed all bad products have been removed, or if they have been put inside the boxes with good products again
UV marker.jpg

9. Pre-formatted Checklist and recording tools
Prepare a detailed inspection list before visiting factory. Take your laptop or Ipad to record it during inspection. Points you want to work out are:

  • Product specifications (including technical & material specifications)
  • Order specifications (quantity, bar-codes etc.). Tip: pre-determine test-size using AQL
  • Pictures of product and specific point to pay attention to
  • Component list
  • Accessories list
  • Packaging specification
  • Specific tests to carry out. i.e.:
    • High POT. (1500V, 4000V)
    • Drop-test
    • Use test
    • Earth Continuity Resistance
    • Screw/Nut Torque test
    • Test finger-pin test
    • Impact hammer test
    • Export carton check (stand on the carton to see if it can hold your weight!)
  • AQL
  • Batch size

Always bring a decent camera and of course the original and approved samples

10. RoHS scanner: these scanners don’t come cheap, but if you want to make sure there are no harmful or illegal substances in your products, this is a useful investment. Third party inspections come at several thousand RMB per test so it will take just a few dozens of tests to earn back the investment. http://www.niton.com/RoHS-Compliance-Hi-Rel.aspx?sflang=en
Portable RoHS scanner.jpg

Further reading: Curious to explore more? Have a look on Alibaba: http://www.alibaba.com/Measurement-Analysis-Instruments_p1537