It's one reason why manufacturing of anything from furniture to electronics is hardly done in the west anymore; because shipping is relatively cheap compared to the wage difference, it's much cheaper to have things built in china and shipped here.

I do believe that long-term, probably in our lifetime, this balance will shift; China's economy (and with it, wages and cost of living) is and has been booming for decades, and the US's wages (slash minimum wage) have been static for just as long. I suspect this is why China is investing a lot in infrastructure internationally; I think we'll see Africa become a big player in manufacturing, sponsored and financed by China.

To me it seems to be an er, interesting kind of economic / capitalist colonialism, something not done by force but by incentives (loans to pay for it, people to build it, forfeiture of the infrastructure if the loan cannot be paid back).