hm...high end shimanos(eg, stella) are mostly made in Malaysia as far as i know, can you offer an example that i may not aware of?
Think outside the box.
I said 'gear', meaning fishing gear in general. That includes some of my TFO fly and gear rods, fly reels, clothes, wading boots, digital underwater camera, wading staff, fishing backpack, digital scale, etc.
William Joseph, Simms, TFO are just some of the brands who have outsourced their production to China in order to cut prices down.
But they are still expensive if you are on a budget.
You want an example of high end spinning reels Made in China?
Check out the Daiwa "Tierra" and "Sol" series. Silk smooth, yet sturdy, zero vib...but most models will set you back well above 100$ and 200$, respectively.
As someone said before, the label 'Made in China' no longer necessarily means cheap brandless crap, but there is still a lot of that around, too.