Water-based paint was not initially accepted as a mainstream product because it is, after all, a type of coating, and people disliked the odor and health impact of solvent paints. To address this, manufacturers kept improving eco-friendly water-based paint through technology, and it later proved helpful in daily and industrial use. Many consumers still know little about paint chemistry and wrongly believe solvent paint is non-toxic once odorless - but benzene, toluene and free TDI in hardeners and thinners keep emitting for decades and harm child development, which is why developed countries banned solvent paint long ago. Early doubts led some makers to adulterate water-based paint with gasoline or xylene. Only from the late 1990s, as foreign brands entered China with wall latex paints and living standards and environmental policy improved, did water-based paint truly take off, driven by construction, metalworking, interior decoration and export processing.

