10 Things the Chinese Economy Doesn't Want You to Know About Fake Christmas Trees

You may know already: the majority of products in Australia, such as fake Christmas trees — the majority of items made out of plastic, rubber and even metal — come from a very large industrial area in Yiwu, in China's Zhejiang Province.

China's GDP has had a 741% increase in the last 20 years, compared to Australia's 158% (World Bank, 2005–2025, current US$). Every time you purchase a fake tree or a product online, you support their economy. While some Australian businesses may benefit by being the middlemen, we are ultimately removing money from our economy.

Needless to say, whilst we do have a good range of exports — high quality and high quantities of natural minerals, resources, energy systems, etc. — we don't effectively sell this very well, although I'm not going to bore you with the entire economics of the Australian structure.

What you didn't know is, when you're purchasing a real Christmas tree, you support a genuine Australian farmer: someone who has held land throughout the generations, turning down selling it to overseas corporations, which would later have built large industrial areas or new cities that would be filled with businesses that support overseas economies such as China. You're supporting Australian workers that work on these farms, and you're essentially keeping cash flow within our country, handing over a few bucks to a neighbour.

I bet you also didn't know regenerative pine tree farming contributes to the production of oxygen in Australia. It is a widespread misconception that trees produce most of the oxygen in the world. Most of it comes from ocean algae. However, our pine farming still does its part for what it is.

On top of that, if you use a tree delivery service like ours, you're supporting young men and women in uni or recently out of high school to deliver, set up the trees, maintain and groom the farms towards the end of the season, and essentially keep the money in our economy.

I bet you also didn't know that having a fresh pine Christmas tree in your home noticeably increases your mood. There is a pretty good reason all those years ago the pioneer of Christmas trees decided to put a fresh pine tree in the middle of his home and decorate it with lights around the fireplace. There's a reason it has turned into a tradition, something that we remember clearly from our childhood. But memories are linked more clearly to smells, sounds and other senses.

Pine trees have air-cleaning qualities that transcend throughout your home. Humans are inevitably out of touch with nature. And whilst many of our real-tree lovers may have some plants throughout the home, for those that don't, it's all the more reason to get some green life in your home for one month of the year.

Did you know these pine trees were going to be chopped down regardless? If sales were not made when they grew to a taller height, then they would be used in construction — in plywood and structural timber — as well as mulch for the front yard. So, you get to enjoy the trees before they are inevitably recycled.

Australia isn't going to turn around and make any huge changes. But the people within it — us everyday citizens — our decisions and small contributions will have a ripple effect on the following generations: our children, our grandchildren, and so on.

For those that care deeply for the environment: given the amount of CO2 produced throughout that factory chain in China, the land that was cleared and the habitats destroyed, it makes a lot more sense to chop and regrow real trees than to bond chemicals to produce a fake.