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The Chinese call the financial crisis "a financial tsunami". And with good
reason. Especially in Guangdong province in southern China, which are losing the
title as the world's factory. It was also this province, which lies on the
border with Hong Kong, that were largely the engine behind
China's double-digit
growth rates. But earlier this year the foreign companies began to close their
factories. It is now too expensive to get the goods produced in China. Factories
began in great style to move to countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand,
where costs are much lower. New figures from the provincial statistics bureau
show that about 50,000 factories will close in Guangdong in 2009.
An empty shoe factory in the once thriving Longgang District in the Pearl
River Delta region of Guangdong in South China.
Workers are tearing down the huge KTP Group Shoe Factory in the
Longgang-district outside Shenzhen.
A pair of mens underwear hangs left behind in the workers shower area of a
closed down shoe factory in the Longgang district.
Scattered MADE IN CHINA stickers on the floor of the closed down Qicheng
Shoudai Factory in Dongguan, China.
The migrant workers who used to be operating the sewing machines are now
employed as demolition workers. A man reads a magazine on a makeshift bed during
a break in the KTP Group Shoe Factory, as it is being teared down around
him.
A worker on his way home from work, is looking at the tearing down of the KTP
Group Shoe Factory, who used to produce shoes for Nike and Reebok in the Delta
region.
A worker is hammering away on the roof of the KTP Group Shoe Factory, who
used to produce shoes for Nike and Reebok among many.
Comprehensive statistics on shutdowns are hard to come by. But the Federation
of Hong Kong Industries predicts that 10% of an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 Hong
Kong-run factories in the Pearl River Delta will close this year. In the past 12
months, 150 factories making shoes or supplying shoemakers have closed in
Dongguan.
Comprehensive statistics on shutdowns are hard to come by. But the Federation
of Hong Kong Industries predicts that 10% of an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 Hong
Kong-run factories in the Pearl River Delta will close this year. In the past 12
months, 150 factories making shoes or supplying shoemakers have closed in
Dongguan.
A report by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai found that more than
half of foreign manufacturers in China believe the country is losing its
competitive advantage over countries like Vietnam and India. Almost a fifth of
the companies surveyed are considering relocating out of
China.
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