That is interesting AVB, and some of it is new to me. I know that Briggs finally transferred the manufacture of the last of the large side valve engines to Chongqing about two years ago, after transferring the small side valve ones there in the early 2000s, but I was under the impression that all OHV and DOV Briggs engines were made in the US, except for the two and three cylinder Vanguards which have always been made by Daihatsu in Japan. I know the single cylinder Vanguards were made by Mitsubishi in Japan for a while, due to problems Briggs had building them, but were returned to the US when Briggs fell into commercial disagreement with Mitsubishi, and I believe they have been US-built ever since. I believe Briggs' strategy is to try to stay in the business of making engines in the US by concentrating the production of high-value engines there, while allocating production of the low-value engines to their Chongqing plant. Of course the purchased components will end up being sourced in China though.
The only Ruixing carburetors I've had much to do with have been exact copies of the Keihin carburetors Honda uses. The copies are so good that the parts are interchangeable with Keihin ones, and I regard them as good carburetors. The chonda engines do often have really awful governor linkages though.
