I work for a Canadian company that manufactures lighting components near Guangdong. Chrome plating is almost impossible to do in North America at a cost competitive price point. Just an anecdote about the conditions there; The supplier we use chome plates parts using a hexavalent chromium plating technique as opposed to a trivalent technique, irrespective of the environmental hazards that come along with it (As far as I know it's produces carcinogenic by products). I didn't see one worker with a respirator on or disposable gloves during my visits, health and safety seems to be an after thought. One of the holding tanks that for the byproduct plating solution was leaking from a fitting into the soil below, the surrounding areas are mostly farm lands (not sure what is in the solution that was leaking, but I would assume you wouldn't want it taken up by food crop). For us it's definitely an environmental sidestep. Really the only way for the west to become cost competitive for low end industrial manufacturing is going to be through a softening of environmental regulations or China's will have to close the gap with improved regulations.