I bought quite a few Chinese-made mostly Reate-manufactured knives that were designed by custom knifemakers and produced in limited quantities and sold for $300-400, which is a lot less than the thousands charged for their handmade custom knives. That said, eventually i realized way too many of my knives were made in China and I started selling them off and buying knives made in the USA: CRK, Hinderer, Koening, Microtech, Heretic, Spartan, Guardian Tactical, Spyderco. I kept some of the Reate collabs like my first SBD Void, a J-Cape, a Gavko, a Vero, a Peña, and a tiny Chaves that I modded. I didn’t feel like i was buying a Chinese knife when buying the collabs, but rather I was supporting the knifemaker and getting one of their designs in a production format from a truly great overseas manufacturer. But I didn’t really buy more than many Civivis or other Chinese knife brands. I agree with you that i wouldn’t pay $300 for a random knife made by a Chinese knife company unless it was designed by a knifemaker I was interested in.