One difference is this:
The producers in China lower their wage basis tremendously, in fact, even the costs of transcontinental shipping do not completely eat up these costs--or the moving of production to China would not be done.
But these producers do not lower their prices to the end consumer correspondingly, or even proportionately-- what is the wage differential between someone in China and a comparable US worker, and what is the difference in price for the finished good at the checkout stand? In one case, the cost of labor is down by (say) a factor of 75 (30 cents an hour vs. 25 dollars an hour); in the other, the price of the goods is only cut in half.
Even with the differential in productivity, and shipping, it is the manufacturer (and say the Chinese govt?) who is winning--most of the improvements are not passed on to the US worker who is now out of a job...
/soapbox mode OFF
Very good point grey-whiskers.
When Nike shut down the shoe pnt in Memphis and moved first to Mexico then China I did not see the price of Nikes go down to $10.00