As I write this from inside China, and as someone who does a lot of business with factories in China, I can tell you that there IS A LOT OF INTEREST in bitcoins by these factory owners.
I can also tell you that many of them are willing to accept partial payment in Bitcoins for their orders.
There is a lot of discussion on chinese message boards about bitcoins, and as the word spreads, I suspect they will become more and more popular in China.
I am currently attempting to have some products manufactured by a Chinese company, and am finding the wire transfer payments to be pretty annoying and rather expensive. I would love to be able to pay in Bitcoin, however they don't seem to know what it is or care.
I would love to see a directory of Chinese companies that are willing to accept Bitcoin, does anyone know of such a thing.