Re: Chinese boilermaking. . .

The ASME (Always, Sometimes, Maybe, Except) is not the be all and end all of boilermaking worldwide. There are many places where foreign codes and the US ones conflict (the english use of copper fireboxes comes to mind). Does that mean that all the foreign made boilers are bombs (or suddenly become bombs when they are imported)? Of course not. But, they are not "code", therefore the inspectors are not familiar with what to look for. So, you gotta jump through hoops.... It is an insurance, liability, and paperwork issue as much or more than an actual safety one.
The long promised unified steel code which was to have replaced the tangled, conflicting mess of the ASME, the API, and D1.1 codes, is still largely stalled, from what I've heard it mostly sounds like the problem is a turf war..... BUT, until it is in place the ASME code is the adopted law of the land, and we're stuck working within it.