Chinese executive kills himself amid Mattel recall

Zhang Shuhong, the boss of Lida Toy, was found dead in his factory in Guangdong province Saturday, the Financial Times reported. He had hanged himself. Last week, 1.5 million toys manufactured by Lida Toy for Mattel were recalled after excessive lead was found in the products. At the same time, Guangdong authorities began to crack down on product safety last week, implementing reporting standards stricter than the EU's EN71 export safety standards for the city. "I hope the Chinese authorities will back off a bit. My opinion is that they have overreacted," an industry executive said. Guangdong is the world's largest toy manufacturing base, with toy exports worth US$4.97 billion last year.