Factories shut as crisis hits China
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Many workers are now having to go back home to their villages.
Amid the queues of passengers at Guangzhou railway station, one group of young women sits on top of piles of bags and cases. Each of them has the same frizzy hairstyle.
One sends text messages on her mobile phone, which is decorated with pendants. These women used to work in a television factory, until the factory started running out of cash.
“We used to work overtime,” says one of the workers, who declines to give her name. “But then, we were told to work one day and take one or two days off. Finally, we weren’t even getting a basic salary.”
The long lines at this railway station will make China’s government nervous.
The Communist Party has stayed in power partly because it has made poor people richer. But now the world’s financial crisis has arrived.
So, what happens in this country if hundreds of millions of workers no longer feel they can get a better life?