Brett is spot on about Chinese quality coming to the fore over the past few years. Things are more expensive in China just in the last year or so but the difference in overall quality is starting to rival a lot of Korean stuff - in the electronics field anyway.
I have had discussions with several amusement factories as I have had quite a lot of different things made over the years such as cabinets and metalwork. I even had a couple of Time Crisis 3 machines built. All of the amusement factories are located in the one area so it's pretty easy to get around and see a heap of them in a few days. They are all behind locked gates with no signs though so you need to know who you are visiting and exactly where they are. Such is the nature of small business in China - they are very secretive in case a competitor gets wind of what they are doing and copies them.
On to pinballs. They have NEVER been in China as they were banned right from the start because of gambling bingo machines. I believe Gary Stern has had talks recently in China about sending some new Stern machines into China so who knows if that might change soon?
When I have spoken to Chinese about pinball machines (and I have on several occassions) they simply have no grasp of the concept. They cannot and simply do not understand how one works, what it does or why you would want to play one. The one prototype thing I saw (and its picture has been bandied about on the usual Alibaba type sites that are chock full of shysters and thieves) was a complete disaster. It had a soccer style theme but was more along the lines of an early Bally bingo. The Chinese simply do not "get" what pinball is about.
I just can't find the picture I took of it at the moment but will post it when I do.
Some good news is that I already have found the staff to build them - here they are:
and here is the boat they could be shipped on:
The bottom line is I certainly have the right contacts in the printed circuit field, the cabinet department, metalworking factories, printing & transport/shipping. I also have the knowlege required to pull it all together and make it work. What I don't have are the spare funds to make it all happen!!! The age old problem raises its ugly head again!
