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BS 1363 has earth top, live bottom right, neutral bottom left. Aus/NZ has earth bottom, active top left, neutral top right which means if you turn it 180 degrees it is the same layout. Chinese sockets also have this layout. Argentina has active/neutral reversed.

Interesting to see these Chinese plugs.

I can see possible disasters happen when appliances inadvertendly get imported with these plugs and used in NZ with opposite polarity to the appliance.

or slip through the QC network with the correct NZ plug but polarity reversed.

As I explained above, they are NOT reversed. It is the Argentinian ones that are reversed.

Just to clarify this, the Australian plug is an obsolete U.S design; so old in fact it has no NEMA classification.
Apparently, it wasn't popular in the U.S because of incompatibility with the parallel pin plugs, hence it died out with NEMA 5-15 replacing it.
The Australian Standard version from 1937 has slightly shorter pins, with the earth pin slightly longer than the live and neutral (for obvious safety reasons). In practice this makes no difference and the plugs and sockets can be used with one another. I have a pre 1937 plug with all long pins; it fits perfectly in the modern socket.

Prior to 1937, Australia was using British round pin plugs ,the bayonet light socket, as well as the non earthed (NEMA 1-15) and the nameless 3 flat pin American designs. Clipsal still make the 2 flat parallel pin plug rated at 250V, not that it has been used in domestic applications for very long time. The ease of making flat pins as compared to round ones with the machines we had is why the American design was ultimately adopted here.

Literature I've seen indicates that NZ continued with British configurations for somewhat longer than AU did. I'd be interested to know more on NZ's adoption of the plug; was it just the "de facto 7th state of Oz" effect? Was it officially adopted at the same or a later time?

It is interesting to note that although our wall boxes and plug pattern are of American design, the wiring colour code, fuses, and light sockets stayed with British practice.

Argentina would most likely have taken the design from the U.S directly without any influence from Australia; especially given phase and neutral are reversed. It would be interesting to know how the sockets were wired in the U.S. and which adoptive country kept to the original standard. Given NEMA 5-15's pins are connected in the same order as ours, I suspect Argentina is the odd one out.

I would be interested to know how China came to use it, and when it started doing so. The Chinese power leads I've got have the cable leaving the side entry plug on the top side when plugged into an AU/NZ socket and the writing is upside down. They use the same connections.

Re China. When I was there about 5 years ago there were 2 sizes or crowsfoot plug/socket. The common one matched Australian plugs, but there was a larger version on the hotel air con which Australian plugs would not fit.

Re NZ. I read somewhere that BS1362 plugs were officially adopted but no one used them, instead using the Australian plugs.

The BS1363 sockets were still described with schematics in the revised edition 1987 of the handbook to the electrical wiring regulations 1976 under reg.50(e) and reg.100. in New Zealand

the latest chinese national standard in pdf format

GB1002-2008 Single phases plugs and socket-outlets for household and similar purposes — Types,basic parameters and dimensions
GB1003-2008 Three phases plugs and socket-outlets for household and similar purposes — Types,basic parameters and dimensions

I don't quite understand why China's retaining the NEMA 110V style plugs for 220V.

Unless they're trying to have a multi-rated socket outlet system like the old British BS546 system where, you had 5amp outlets etc.

Surely it would make more sense to just implement a 2-pin crowfoot plug for small appliances and ditch the straight-pin version / phase it out.

At my mom's house, we have a few of these providing 240VAC 60Hz 15 amp (no neutral, both angled pins are hot, and the ground is ground). It provides power to a radio like this one: Which doesn't mind it being 60Hz vs 50Hz.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but those Calstan radios were made in the 1960's for use in schools. Calstan was a brand name used by Zenith (not affiliated with the U.S company of the same name). Their factory was in Sydney.
Radios like this are fine with 60c/s supply; the power transformers used in Australian valve radios are very conservatively rated.