Batch 2023
After I was able to go back to China at the end of 2022, I tried to create a production capacity for Funke cakes again, which we can hardly produce anymore since I was no longer able to go to China at the end of 2020 due to Corona and had to let the lease on our old factory expire.
I had also found a new factory and signed a contract, however the Chinese fireworks market was doing so well at the beginning of the year, which caused the price of factories to rise significantly.
The "contractor" then tried to kick me out contrary to the contract, with the help of an acquaintance of his who is the leader of one division of the Hunan Commission for Discipline Inspection, the highest anti-corruption authority in the province. Yes, big surprise, in China even the officials who are supposed to fight corruption are corrupt.
The "contractor" also repeatedly blocked the entrance to the factory, turned off the electricity, threatened my employees, stole documents, etc. without the local police taking any action. Ultimately, I asked the German embassy for help, which then contacted the Chinese foreign affairs department, and I spent the last few months in government offices and in court instead of being able to take care of the production as originally planned.
So far the matter is still not over, but the factory is closed because of the disputes, so we can't produce anything again. And unfortunately, even with the little that we were able to do, a lot of things didn't work out as they should, as I was busy defending myself against the above-mentioned activities almost every day, and the Chinese employees (as usual) were doing their best to fuck up whatever they can.
In any case, here is the "Funkenweide Rotblinker".
Tails and Funkenweide stars are good in my opinion, but unfortunately the red strobe is very weak. But we wouldn't have been able to finish the article otherwise, and I had to expect every day that the corrupt authorities would shut down our production (which happened shortly afterwards), which is why it was unfortunately no longer possible to produce a new batch of stars..