Last year, Zhang Jixin, a businessman from Tangshan City, Hebei Province, China, made an on-the-spot survey of Huachen Optoelectronics, a manufacture of LED and electric faucet located in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province. He then signed a contract with the company and paid RMB35, 000 of earnest money and payments for goods. However, the company delivered only 40 sets of electric faucets worth less than RMB1,000, all of which are products with no information on production date, certificate or manufacturer’ name and was thus confiscated by the local Bureau of Commerce and Industry. Zhang Jixin tried to call the company several timeswithout avail. Up till the New Year’s Day, someone informed Zhang that Huachen Optoelectronics had closed down.

Zhang Jixin’s case is not alone. More than ten franchisees from Hubei, Guangxi and Hunan have paid up to tens of thousands each, a total of RMB 200,000, to Huachen Optoelectronics. They rushed to Dongguan and learnt from Nancheng Bureau of Commerce and Industry that Huachen Optoelectronics had been placed a case on file for investigation and prosecution in May 2012. Up to now, there’s no trace of Su Ruibin, the legal representative’s whereabouts and the Bureau of Commerce and Industry is working on it.