Ask A Genius 1579: Temu, Cheap Chinese Goods, and Micromosaic Art
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/12/11
How do ultra-cheap Chinese platforms and industrial policy shape everyday creativity, from costume jewelry hacks to a Jesus micromosaic?
In this conversation, Rick Rosner walks Scott Douglas Jacobsen through his Temu and Alibaba adventures, where four-dollar floral purses and three-dollar brooches become raw material for art. He contrasts America’s lost costume-jewelry heyday in Providence with today’s China as “factory of the world,” an entrepreneurial dictatorship that rewards production while crushing dissent. Between critiques of U.S. militarism and Chinese industrialization, he describes building a bloodied-knees Jesus mosaic with Gorilla Glue and upcycling antique micromosaics into fake Elizabeth Locke-style pieces. Throughout, Carole hovers as recipient and muse, test audience for whether cheap Chinese goods feel like treasures or trash.
Rick Rosner: So Temu, there are all these sellers in China that offer stuff for cheap. Carole told me not to get her a purse because she wants to pick her own purses. I found a beautiful floral purse from Coach on eBay for $75. Then I went on Alibaba and found a beautiful floral purse from China for $4. For $4, she cannot get that annoyed at me for picking a purse for her.
But this thing—if you can even get it in the U.S. at Harbor Freight or somewhere—you have to bolt it to a piece of wood so it has stability.
You put your electric drill in here, lock it down, and then you can put a grinding wheel on it and you have yourself a grinder—or a polisher if you put a polishing wheel on it. This thing was ten or eleven bucks.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So generally higher quality or lower quality?
Jacobsen: It is… will you get what you think you are getting? That is the deal. It is a 50–50 proposition. Occasionally it is not what you will get, but you paid so little that you think, “All right, I cannot bitch about it.”
I bought a gold-plated ring with multicolored tiny gemstones that were supposed to be CZs—cubic zirconia. Whatever they are, they are probably not rhinestones. The ring that came… and I am not even using it as a ring to wear on a finger. I am going to use it as a mounting to turn it into a brooch.
And it came with fewer CZs, and the grouping of the CZs was less pleasant than what was pictured. But for three bucks, two bucks, I cannot complain. I bought Carol a floral brooch that was supposed to have translucent purple petals.
You know what an ombre is? Not the “bad hombres” Trump wanted to kick out of America—an ombre is a color gradient. The petals were supposed to go from transparent to purple in a gradient.
And somehow they messed up the gradient, and the petals came out brown instead of purple. There is not a huge distance between purple and brown, because you are mixing red and blue dyes, and if any yellow gets in there, you are going to get a muddy brown.
So I got a flower that was supposed to be purple, but it is only slightly purple and mostly brown. But for three bucks, what am I going to do?
And the technology they have available—compare it to the U.S., which had a golden age of costume jewelry out of Providence, Rhode Island, from the 1920s through the 1970s. The U.S. produced some of the best costume jewelry in the world. But now the stuff coming out of China, if you are lucky enough to get what is pictured in the ad, is crazy good and reasonably durable.
So yes, you get what you pay for. It is not crappy. I am getting a four-dollar purse. We will see if it is something that falls apart in two uses.
But I kind of doubt it, because it does not cost that much more to make something out of canvas that will last, and to use thread that will hold up for a reasonable amount of time. I do not think the cost savings in making total crap is that great.
Especially since you are trying to get repeat customers. I would also guess that China is subsidizing some of this manufacturing in one way or another, because China wants to be the factory of the world.
And the U.S. is too busy committing… well, let us say engaging in foreign military interventions and cutting health care access for people. Also, the industrialization that goes on in China is insane. There are more than 150 cities in China with over a million people. There are around eight megacities with more than ten million. And what do the people in those cities do? They make stuff. Those are industrial cities.
Jacobsen: Do they centralize manufacturing anyway? Like, “this city does this,” “that city does that”?
Rosner: I do not know the full details. I know that if you are too mouthy in China, the government cracks down. I consider them an entrepreneurial dictatorship. They want everybody to buckle down and make things. If you make a ton of money, they are okay with that. But if you complain about, say, lack of access to medical care, the government will step in.
But if you work hard and produce, they will let you make a ton of money and buy a mini-mansion, and drive—over there you can get a decent electric SUV for around ten grand. They will let you prosper… as long as you do not challenge the political system.
I have some glue here that slowly sets and also expands as it cures. Let me check my stuff, because as it expands, it pushes pieces out of the way, out of position. I am doing this Jesus mosaic—you have seen it. He is 99.5% complete. I have most of his holes patched. I am working on his knees.
Because when he was carrying the cross on the way to Golgotha—Mount Calvary—the Romans made you drag your own cross, and it weighed a ton. He fell down three times and skinned his knees. So I am giving him bloody knees.
And I am using Gorilla Glue, which is a great glue and less toxic than E6000, because you end up breathing the fumes if you are bent over this stuff for hours. It cures by absorbing water vapor out of the air. And as it absorbs water, it expands. So my little pieces need to be pushed back into position.
And yes, I should be doing other things besides working on a Jesus mosaic. This other piece cost two dollars.
Jacobsen: Oh, that is pretty.
Rosner: Yes. I am probably going to pop out the stone—the little rhinestone in the middle—and put a tiny micromosaic in its place. There is a jeweler named Elizabeth Locke who buys antique micromosaics, tiny ones. She might buy a good one for a hundred bucks from the late 19th century. Then she will make an 18-carat gold border for it, a mounting, and might include a couple of semi-precious or precious stones in the setting.
And it ends up looking gorgeous—and sells for $5,000. And I cannot do what Elizabeth Locke does, but I can play a similar game. I can buy little teeny micromosaics—like this dog here. You have got one of them. You are holding it for me.
It is some lady, and it is half an inch across—so tiny it barely seems like anything. This dog is five-eighths of an inch by half an inch. I will find a piece of costume jewelry, dig out the center of it—grind it out—and I will put the dog in the center. A fake Elizabeth Locke piece.
Oh, here is one I did. Micromosaic leaf—from probably the 1880s. I dug out the center stone from this piece of costume jewelry and put the micromosaic in. And it looks all right. Because I am insane. It is a jade color.
The piece of costume jewelry was three bucks—and pretty good quality—from freaking China. It does not look like $5,000, but it… it looks like ten bucks, I guess.
Last updated May 3, 2025. These terms govern all In Sight Publishing content—past, present, and future—and supersede any prior notices. In Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons BY‑NC‑ND 4.0; © In Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen 2012–Present. All trademarks, performances, databases & branding are owned by their rights holders; no use without permission. Unauthorized copying, modification, framing or public communication is prohibited. External links are not endorsed. Cookies & tracking require consent, and data processing complies with PIPEDA & GDPR; no data from children < 13 (COPPA). Content meets WCAG 2.1 AA under the Accessible Canada Act & is preserved in open archival formats with backups. Excerpts & links require full credit & hyperlink; limited quoting under fair-dealing & fair-use. All content is informational; no liability for errors or omissions: Feedback welcome, and verified errors corrected promptly. For permissions or DMCA notices, email: scott.jacobsen2025@gmail.com. Site use is governed by BC laws; content is “as‑is,” liability limited, users indemnify us; moral, performers’ & database sui generis rights reserved.
In-Sight Publishing 