China’s Face-Saving Project ~ Mianzi Gongcheng “面子工程” ~

MFAC

In this article, I’d like to talk about one anechoic chamber in China.
I had an opportunity to visit an anechoic chamber of a certain Chinese air-conditioner manufacturer due to my work. This anechoic chamber was built 20 years ago and had various issues as listed below.

• The door handle was broken and couldn’t be tightened.
• The floor pit of the anechoic chamber was flooded.
• The anechoic chamber emitted a foul odor, making it impossible to open my eyes when I entered inside.
•  The sound-absorbing wedges were blackened with mold.
•  The measurement target was too large, which almost occupied the free space.

There was a huge air conditioner installed inside this anechoic chamber. The plumbing connected to it was leaking water, causing the pit under the anechoic chamber to be continuously filled with water for many years. Since no measures were taken to address this, the water became stagnant and rotten, while the sound-absorbing wedges were covered in mold. The workers were conducting measurements in such a harsh environment.

The reason why I visited there was because a local anechoic-chamber manufacturer, the company K, asked me for consultation to discuss a relocation of this anechoic chamber. I pointed out the issues and suggested that the sound-absorbing wedges should be replaced with new ones at the very least. I also mentioned that the anechoic chamber was too small to measure the measurement target properly and it should be better to make it bigger. However, they replied “this anechoic chamber is a face-saving project, so as long as the chamber is there, it doesn’t matter if we can’t conduct acoustic measurements properly or if it’s moldy. Our workers have been in this environment for years, but they have not gotten sick.”

As an expert on anechoic chambers, I regretfully declined this project.

In addition, I had never heard of the phrase “a face-saving project” until then. In Chinese, it is called “Mianzi Gongcheng (面子工程).” According to the manufacturer’s person in charge, a face-saving project means showcasing to the relevant government authorities that “we are properly measuring in an anechoic chamber” and “we are putting effort into acoustic development.” In other words, there was no need to spend unnecessary money on the anechoic chamber. As long as it has large sound-absorbing wedges, it would look like a full-fledged anechoic chamber. The chamber was built solely for that purpose.

In short, it is an anechoic chamber for appearance only.

The data measured in such an anechoic chamber cannot be trusted, and it cannot be said to meet the ISO standards physically, so the data itself may have been manipulated.

There are many such projects in China.

The manufacturers who are involved in making fake products are not specialists in anechoic chambers.

There are excellent anechoic-chamber manufacturers in the world, while not-so-good ones as well. So, we’d like to compete with excellent nominees.

Excellent proven anechoic-chamber manufacturers

• Company F in Krumbach, GERMANY
• Company I in Hampshire, UK
• Company E in Massachusetts, USA

AND

• Sonora Technology Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, JAPAN