I'm using more factories outside of my regular comfortable Guangdong area these days.
Guangdong is easy for me because I have some friends and can get referrals.

But outside of guangdong, I'd like to find some local people in the cities near the factories to help do QC and followups.

How do you guys go about doing this?
(while avoiding those special "relationships" between QC and the factory)

I'm not sure if I can help ya buddy. But, when I was in Beijing I went to this Job Expo designed to help graduates land jobs. Students were applying like crazy everywhere they could find something to apply for, because thats how hard it seemed to find a job. It made me realise how easy I have it abroad with much less competition and much better organization. With that many graduates and people looking for jobs, it is so suprising for me to see such a thread. It seems very easy to find employees in China. Then the usual principle of more pay, more reliance appiles. By the way, whats QC?

QC = quality control i think...

Yep, exactly - Quality Control.

This is part of my job bro!

I visit factories and do QC for companies in Europe, as well as my own company. If you want any help feel free to PM me

One way is to hire a good HR person, preferably some one you may know. They are more adept to hiring the right person according to your requirements, and plus less headache for you and more time to go punting!

If you hire locally, you're ALWAYS going to hit against the "special relationship" problem, just because you're not local and they are.  If you try to be cheap, you'll find your staff being subverted and corrupted.  Assume it.  

To do QC properly, it has to be an outsider, someone who owes allegiance to you to maintain their lifestyle and career prospects, and would never dream of trying to establish roots or relationships in the area he's inspecting in.  

Up to you, what's the cost of your quality risk?  If it doesn't justify using a professional inspector, take the hit.

So I take it you've used those pro inspectors like SGS or something like that?
how do they charge?

yeah, I worked in the industry at one of the big names for a while.  

I just did a search and this was somewhere on the first page of google: http://www.asiainspection.com/
"1. Create your account and schedule your inspection in minutes
2. Send an inspector anywhere in Asia within 48 hours from $288 USD.
3. Receive your detailed reports online, the same day of the inspection"

However you look at it, charging basically comes down to hours.  Variables are where is the factory (i.e. travel time), complexity of the job (i.e. grade and seniority of the Engineer doing the inspection), and how often you need inspections (100%?  Or sampling?).  

Sorry, can't guide you with the current pricing, you'll need to check around:   SGS, UL are two of the biggest names, but there must be lots of newones springing up.  Again, if you're exposed to a significant business risk from quality concerns, don't cut corners.  

ALTERNATIVELY ... if you DO try to hire your own staff to do inspections, ping me, can maybe reduce the risk for you, but this isn't the place to discuss it!

Totally right!

I do most of my companies myself, or we use a couple of good Chinese people who were put forward to us by other businesses. There is risk in everything you do.

We have been stung once which was a wake up call.

I have travelled pretty much all over Southern China checking products. We use these other guys if I cannot make it.

ok thanks all you guys for the help!