Zhang Shuhong

:"This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhang."

Zhang Shuhong (Chinese: 张树鸿, 1955? - August 11, 2007) was a Chinese businessman and factory owner. Zhang committed suicide after toys made at his factory for Fisher-Price (a division of Mattel) were found to contain lead paint. cite news |first=Edward|last=Cody|title= Chinese Toy Executive Found Hanged After Export Ban |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/13/AR2007081300010.html?hpid=topnews|work= Washington Post |publisher= |date=2007-08-14 |accessdate=2007-08-26]

Personal life

Zhang Shuhong grew up in Hong Kong. He first worked as an errandboy for a Hong Kong factory. cite news
first=David |last=Barboza|title= Scandal and Suicide in China: A DarkSide of Toys
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/business/worldbusiness/23suicide.html
work= The New York Times |publisher= |date=2007-08-23
accessdate=2007-08-26] He eventually moved to
Guangdong province, just across the border from Hong Kong,to work in the toy factories which grew up in the area in the 1980sand 1990s. He never married.

Lee Der Industrial

Zhang Shuhong worked at the Lee Der Industrial company for over tenyears before taking over as head of the company's day to dayoperations. The Lee Der company, which is based in
Foshan, China, and is also known as Lida, was a major supplier of toys and other products forWestern companies, including Mattel and its subsidiary,
Fisher-Price. Zhang was described by employees and co-workersas an entrepreneur. Lee Der Industrial was losing money andsuffering financial loses at the time that Zhang took overoperations. Zhang was credited with stopping themoney loss. He invested much of Lee Der's earnings back into the
company, investing in new buildings, capital and equipment. Accordingto Lee Der employees, Zhang was planning to move one of his threefactories to a new $5 million USD plant that had recently beencompleted.Zhang was reportedly devoted to the Lee Der Industrialcompany. He resided on the factory grounds in a 25meter room for the 10 years before his death to be close to hiswork.Zhang also owned two subsidiaries, which were named Hengjingand Shuaimeng.

2007 Mattel toy recall

On August 2, 2007, the Mattel Corporation recalled hundreds of thousands of toys which were made in China under the Fisher-Price label. cite news |first=Jonathan|last=Watts|title= Boss in Chinese toy scandal kills himself |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2148228,00.html |work= The Guardian |publisher= |date=2007-08-14 |accessdate=2007-08-26] These recalled Fisher-Price toys included figurines of Big Bird, Elmo and Dora the Explorer and related characters, which were manufactured by Lee Der Industrial. Some of these toys were found to have been coated in paint containing excessive levels of lead. Lead exposure, particularly from lead paint, has been found to cause vomitting, nausea, diarrhea, and even death in children. A million toys were recalled from American stores such as Toys R Us and Walmart.

The Mattel Company sent investigators to China. Mattel identified Lee Der Industrial company as the main supplier of the lead paint tainted toys. China immediately suspended the company's export license which had a devastating effect on the company's business. According to press reports, Lee Der Industrial stood to lose as much as $30 million dollars due to the Fisher-Price toy recall scandal.

Mattel tracked down three paint suppliers who worked for the Lee Der company - Dongxin, Zhongxin and Mingdai. Each of these three companies had supplied paint to factories which were contracted to make Mattel products, including Fisher-Price.

Mattel believes that specifically, the Mingdai company sold yellow paint pigment containing lead to Dongxin and Zhongxin, which produced the paint. The paint was then used by Lee Der, operated by Zhang Shuhong, to produce Mattel's line of Fisher price products.

It is believed that a personal friend of Zhang's ran the company who supplied the lead paint, which ultimately led to the Mattel recall and the financial ruin of Lee Der Industrial. It has been speculated that Zhang Shuhong felt demoralized by the scandaland possibly betrayed by a close friend. Whether or not Zhang knew of the lead paint before the recall is unknown.

Zhang spent the morning of August 11, 2007, talking to some of Lee Der Industrial's 5,000 employees encouraging them to look for other jobs. He also told his managers to sell the factory's equipment. Zhang then apparently hanged himself on the third floor of one of his factories later that day. According to the New York Times, Zhang was 52 at the time of his death. A funeral was held for Zhang Shuhong on August 17 in the factory yard of the Lee Der company.

ee also

* 2007 Chinese export recalls
* Zheng Xiaoyu

References