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The West says China makes too much. Its workers disagree
20 hours ago
By Laura Bicker,
China Correspondent, BBC News

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Xiqing Wang/BBC Ren Wenbing stands inside empty factoryXiqing Wang/BBC
Ren Wenbing says he's owed thousands of dollars in redundancy pay after his ex-
employer moved production out of China
Ren Wenbing is reluctant to leave the hollowed-out brick shell which was once a
thriving factory in China's manufacturing hub of Dongguan.

"All the workers feel astonished," says the 54-year-old as he points out where he
once assembled furniture and where everyone would gather to eat lunch.

The owner of the company has moved production to South East Asia to cut costs. Mr
Ren says he is owed more than 80,000 RMB ($11,000; £8,800) in redundancy pay, which
could take him years to earn.

"We are disappointed, and we grieve," he adds, as a machine takes a sledgehammer to

the windows.

Mr Ren is not just mourning the loss of a furniture firm. He grieves for the
passing of China's once unstoppable economy, which is making it harder for millions
of workers to find a job.

For people like him, not enough is now made in China.

But the West has been accusing China of making far too much - it was the dominant
message during US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's recent visit. She chided
Beijing for "unfair economic practices," for producing more than it needs or the
world could afford to absorb.

Wang Xiqing/BBC Rubble inside factoryWang Xiqing/BBC

Rubble fills the floor of this once-thriving furniture-making factory in Dongguan
The "Made in China" brand that is etched, sewn or branded on t-shirts, tables and
TVs in so many homes around the world is changing. It is now at the heart of the
electric cars that are pouring into Germany, and the solar panels that are powering
Europe's renewable policies. And that is worrying the West.

Rising trade tensions with the United States, strict Covid lockdowns and a global
downturn mean some manufacturers who once flocked to Chinese shores are looking
elsewhere. Foreign investment in the country is at a 30-year low.

But now the old industrial pillars of furniture, clothing and electrical goods are
struggling, Beijing is looking to its "new productive forces": solar panels,
lithium batteries and electric cars.

"We are exporting to the UK, Belgium, Germany, mostly European countries, but also
to Africa, Australia, South America, North America and also South East Asia,"
salesperson Yan Mu says as he shows off the company's storage batteries.

His is one of the stalls at an exhibition held by hundreds of green energy storage
companies in a refurbished and repurposed steel plant on the edge of Beijing.

Wang Xiqing/BBC Man stands in front of model of buildings at energy expoWang

Xiqing/BBC
China is increasingly turning to clean energy products such as solar panels,
lithium batteries and electric cars
"I think Chinese companies are leading the whole energy storage market. With
innovation, with new technologies, battery sales, PCS [power conversion systems]...
well, everything. Right now, I think 80% to 90% of the energy storage equipment are
designed and manufactured in China."

A few hours' drive from Dongguan, there are more signs of the scale of this
industry: there are solar panels as far as the eye can see.

China has installed more solar panels in the last year than the United States has
managed to build in a decade, the mass manufacturing going on here driving the cost
down to half of what it was last year.

Manufacturers across Europe are struggling to compete. In 2023, 97% of the solar
panels installed across Europe came from China.

Wang Xiqing/BBC Rows of solar panels surrounding a houseWang Xiqing/BBC

Solar panels dominate the landscape in this part of China - and Chinese-made panels
make up 97% of those installed across Europe
But China's new industries are far less labour-intensive than the ones that once
fuelled its spectacular growth - and they require specialised, high-skilled workers
and, increasingly, robots. While China's youth unemployment has made the bigger
headlines, its overall urban unemployment rate is still over 5%.

The US and the European Union believe this is how China is trying to save its
economy - producing cut-price and state-subsidised green technology to sell abroad.
They say it's a tactic that is driving down the cost of solar panels and other
emerging technology and driving Western firms out of business.

China says its success is down to innovation, not state subsidies and there is a
demand for their exports as countries transition from fossil fuels to more climate-
friendly sources of energy.

Out with the old

But Mr Ren can't find a job in China's new success story.

He left his family farm in Henan as a teenager and moved to Dongguan, a city in the
southern coastal Guangdong province with so many manufacturers it has become known
as the "factory of the world". On one occasion, he didn't return home for 11 years.

He is one of nearly 300 million migrant workers who've moved from villages across
China to major cities in search of work. Most leave their families behind: Mr Ren's
children are being raised by their grandparents while he and his wife live in
Dongguan, where three-quarters of the city's 10 million residents are thought to be
migrants.
"My children of course miss me," he says, adding he and his wife "had no choice".

Wang Xiqing/BBC Ren WenbingWang Xiqing/BBC

Ren Wenbing says he had "no choice" but to leave his children with grandparents so
he could earn a living in Dongguan
"We didn't earn much. After the daily costs of living, the money we sent home for
our parents, the money for our children's education... we didn't have much left."

"All the migrant workers face this," he continues. "If we want to provide for our
elderly and our children, we have to live away from our loved ones and work in
other provinces. This is the reality."

Now, as China's future sits at a crossroads, so too do their lives.

Ren and his wife now live in a room that can fit only one bed and a side table.
That is where he sits as he scrolls through his phone looking for job
advertisements. Most factories are offering less than the 16RMB ($2.50; £2) per
hour minimum wage. One advert offered only 13RMB an hour.

He needs his redundancy money and has gone to court to get it. But the owner
appears to have left the country, leaving him and some 300 former colleagues in
limbo.

"We witnessed the changes in Dongguan and have strong feelings for this land. This
is our second home. We'd feel very sad and lost if we need to leave here. We won't
forget what the local government did trying to give us more benefits. It's because
of the government policies which gave us jobs and we were able to earn a living."

From around the mid-1980s, just after China opened to the world, Dongguan became
the country's leading export and manufacturing base. It churned out cheap clothes,
toys and shoes.

Back then, tens of thousands of workers would have queued at the gates to start
their shift making shoes to export to the United States.

Lan Pan/BBC Empty buildings in DongguanLan Pan/BBC

Rows of abandoned buildings - formerly clothes and shoe factories - stand empty in
this quarter of Dongguan
But in more recent years, workers began to demand higher wages, while companies
began cutting prices in order to win contracts, squeezing profits further. Then
Donald Trump arrived in the White House, slapping tariffs on Chinese products -
including shoes. Firms - searching for cheaper running costs and protection from
the US-China trade wars - began to look elsewhere.

Now in one almost abandoned quarter of Dongguan, there are miles of empty low-rise
buildings which look like ghost factories. The only inhabitant is a solitary
security guard waving away any curious onlookers.

The constant hum of sewing machines has been replaced by a chorus of birdsong and
the stubborn roots of banyan trees have worked their way under the concrete
skeletons of buildings. The warm and often humid southern climate is helping nature
take over what man has left behind.

In with the new

Dongguan is not giving up though: it is trying to transform itself as a high-tech
hub to try to restore some of its former glory. On the edge of Songshan Lake, the
technology giant Huawei has been building a campus to house 25,000 employees.
There's a new science park and a string of hotels.
Alan Lee is sleeping in his freshly painted office as he tries to capitalise on the
city's new direction. The 32-year-old - having survived the economic downturn to
start his business - has set his sights on exporting high-tech machinery to Europe.

Wang Xiqing/BBC Construction on building in New DongguanWang Xiqing/BBC

Dongguan is trying to transform itself into a high-tech hub, including the
construction of a Huawei campus for 25,000 employees
"Lots of people lost their jobs in recent years. People went into debt and were
forced to sell their properties. We see that many companies suffer declining
demands in exports. The managers face a lot of financial pressure and even have to
close their factories. We chose to focus on trade so we don't have pressure on
production."

But these jobs require knowledge of the new tech skills which people like Mr Ren
have yet to acquire. His hopes of receiving the money he is owed are fading.

He thinks about what he will tell his children about why their father stayed away.

"I don't know how to give a good answer. I could simply say - your mother and I are
away because we want to give a better life and better education. We hope you can
learn things so that in future you don't need to work as hard as us."

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