The timeline is actually more hazy than what Jing mentioned.

The 'Jia Ji" tuo with the old imprint stopped production in 1993, and the
'Jia Ji' tuo with the "G" imprint began in June 1996. So there was a good
three years inbetween.

There are 3 types of 100gm tuos with that "G" imprint, not two. The last
one is the 'Jin Si' tuo with a limited production.

Xiaguan did and does print dates of production on the bottom of their boxes,
though not all of them. In the beginning they used blue print ink, then
sometime after 2001 they uses laser print.

'36 months' is the 'Best Used By / Best Before' date. This is more of a
formality than an actual warranty. Under China's export regulations for
perishable items, it is mandatory that a warranty date be inserted. Many
producers got around this regulation by putting either '12 months' or '36
months' or a time frame so that the health and food regulations officials
won't get on their backs.

Danny


"Space Cowboy" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Well duh. Jing said the Te tuo was embossed in 2003. This is the Jia
> tuo and first embossed in 95 so it can't be an anachronism..
>
> Jim
>
> Space Cowboy wrote:
>> It's a link I uploaded this morning to Tinyurl for a post Jing made in
>> this group. I just doubled checked and it is bringing up the RFDT
>> post. This is the ugly url:
>> http://groups.google.com/group/rec.f...7?dmode=source
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> Michael Plant wrote:
>> > Space Cowboy
>> > > Jing remarked the embossed G started in 2003:
>> > > <http://tinyurl.com/ye3nh6>
>> >
>> > Jim, this link is dead.
>> > Michael
>