In recent years, consumer complaints in the home building materials industry have mainly focused on product quality, material fraud, excessive formaldehyde, false advertising, delivery and installation delays, and poor after-sale service. Each year, news from various local industry and commerce departments and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine about unqualified home products shows that wooden furniture, children's furniture, and bedding products account for a significant portion, truly making them a "disaster area." These three types of products have consistently high unqualified rates and are listed in the "National Key Industrial Product Quality Supervision Directory (2016 Edition)" published by the National Quality Inspection Administration, which has identified them as products with a higher risk level. The National Quality Inspection Administration also stated that it will continue to conduct random inspections on these three types of products this year.

　　Wooden furniture has always been a popular category for quality supervision departments to conduct random inspections, but despite having strict production standards, its unqualified rate has been concerning. Recent data shows that from June to November 2015, during a nationwide coordinated supervision and random inspection of 15 types of products organized by the National Quality Inspection Administration across 30 provincial quality technical supervision bureaus, the unqualified product detection rate for wooden furniture was as high as 17.3%. Consumer Ms. Wang purchased a solid wood leather sofa at a home goods store in Foshan last year, and shortly after using it, she found that the sofa's base crossbar had fallen off, revealing that the sofa frame was not made of solid wood but was instead made of spliced density board.

　　The "General Technical Conditions for Children's Furniture" has been published for nearly four years, and in recent years, the unqualified rate for this category has also remained high. In December last year, during an inspection by the Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce, over 50% of the products did not meet the requirements. Consumer Ms. Wu reported that the children's bed and desk she purchased from a certain brand had a very strong odor, stating, "I thought buying from a big brand would be somewhat reassuring, especially since it's children's furniture, which should have stricter standards." She mentioned that the seller provided testing certificates from relevant institutions, indicating that formaldehyde and other substances fully complied with national standards, "but the smell was so strong after bringing it home that it was impossible to feel at ease."

　　"Furniture and bedding are things we come into contact with every day, and the low qualification rate is very concerning," said Mr. Zhou, a citizen of Guangzhou. Now that the "two-child policy" has been fully implemented, many of his friends who are planning to have children are busy renovating children's rooms. Recently, children's furniture in large home goods stores has been continuously popular, "Safety and health are what parents value when it comes to things children come into contact with," he believes that furniture testing requires relatively professional methods, making it difficult for ordinary consumers to judge. "For me personally, choosing a big brand that hasn't been exposed before is somewhat reassuring."

　　■ Expert Opinion

　　Strict Production Standards, High Rectification Costs

　　Whether it is wooden furniture, children's furniture, or bedding, there are no deficiencies in the relevant production and quality standards; on the contrary, the formulation of standards can be said to be quite strict. Taking wooden furniture as an example, experts explain that China's "General Technical Conditions for Wooden Furniture" itself has very strict requirements for product manufacturing. Given the current manufacturing level, producing qualified products is not difficult, but the furniture industry belongs to low-end manufacturing, with a very low market entry threshold; some practitioners have a "luck mentality" regarding their understanding and control of standards. Compared to small manufacturers, large brand furniture manufacturers clearly have more strength in technology and personnel allocation, thus the chances of being blacklisted are naturally much lower. Experts indicate that many enterprises already have their own mature production lines and technologies. If they were to redevelop products according to the new national standards and correct the original design of the products, it would require a considerable investment, which also causes many enterprises to be unwilling to rectify. It has been revealed that during random inspections, some brands deliberately avoid issues related to local structural safety, "for example, labeling children's furniture as youth furniture, which means it cannot be tested according to national standards."