&#62;Why? Do you have any other historical examples of consumers from one country pressuring another country to reform its government through boycott?<p>I don't know of any example but do you really need a precedence to follow for everything or can you not take extraordinary steps to counter extraordinary circumstances?<p>&#62;And why China? China has a significantly more organized and helpful government than most countries in the region (say, the ones in which most of your clothes are made, or where some of the raw materials for those gadgets are mined).<p>The subject of this thread is China's human-rights record. More on next question.<p>&#62;But most importantly, why do you feel the need, as an American consumer, to act on the relationship between China and its citizens?<p>You can't have double standard in reference to human rights. You (government, not you as in _you_) can't cry foul about communism and human rights record and use it as a reason to sanction some countries and even use it as (one of the) reasons to go to war at the same time blissfully do business with China. As far as human rights go, China is one of the worst offenders out there, and by human-rights I don't only mean not being able to search the internet unrestricted. If you say something against the government or try to start a movement, they will hunt you down and kill you. You can't even talk about those killings they will hunt you down and kill you. You don't hear about it much because they do a very good job of keeping things tight - do some digging around and you will see what I am talking about. You can start from here: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_China" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_China</a><p>If any other country did what China does, there would have been massive sanctions if not war. But of course, no one wants to fight with a nuclear-powered military strong nation.