The West says China makes too much. Its workers disagree

Ren Wenbing is reluctant to leave the crumbling masonry structure that was once a prosperous factory in Dongguan, China’s production hub.

The 54-year-old says that” all the employees are shocked” as he explains where everyone used to collect for lunch and where he once put his equipment.

To reduce costs, the company’s user has moved output to South East Asia. 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 miner takes a hammer to the windows.

Mr. Ren is not only grieving the loss of a decor company. He is grieving over the demise of China’s once-unstoppable business, which is preventing millions of workers from finding employment.

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

However, the West has been making accusations against China for making far too much; this was the main thrust of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s subsequent visit. She criticized Beijing for “unfair financial methods,” for producing more than the world could afford to bear.

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 center of the green policies in Europe and the electric cars that are being driven into Germany. The East worries about that.

Some companies who previously flocked to Chinese coasts are looking elsewhere as a result of rising trade hostilities with the US, stringent Covid lockdowns, and a global slump. The country’s international funding is at its lowest level in 30 years.

But now the old business columns of furniture, clothing and electronic items are struggling, Beijing is looking to its “new successful forces”: solar panel, 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 even South East Asia,” seller Yan Mu says as he shows off the company’s backup batteries.

His stall is one of the ones at a renovated and repurposed metal plant on the edge of Beijing, where hundreds of alternative energy storage companies exhibit.

” I believe that Chinese firms are the market’s biggest players for energy storage.” With technology, with new technologies, power income, PCS [power conversion systems ]… also, anything. I believe that 80 % to 90 % of energy storage equipment is currently created and produced 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.

The cost of installing solar panels in China has fallen to half of what it was last year because the United States has n’t been able to build one in a decade.

Suppliers all over Europe are having a hard time competing. In 2023, 97 % of the solar panels installed across Europe came from China.

But China’s innovative industries are far less labour-intensive than the ones that again fuelled its magnificent development- and they require specialised, high-skilled workers and, significantly, robots. China’s youth unemployment rate has gained more attention than its entire industrial unemployment rate, but it still exceeds 5 %.

This is how China is attempting to save its economy, according to the US and the European Union, by producing cheap, state-subsidized alternative technologies to export worldwide. They claim it’s a technique that is lowering the cost of solar panels and other cutting-edge technologies and putting American companies out of business.

China claims that creativity is the key to its success, no government subsidies, and that exports are in demand as nations switch from fossil fuels to more environmentally friendly energy sources.

But Mr Ren ca n’t find a job in China’s new success story.

He moved to Dongguan, a town in the southwestern coastal Guangdong province with so many companies that it has come to be known as the “factory of the world,” after leaving his family homestead in Henan as a student. On one occasion, he did n’t return home for 11 years.

One of the almost 300 million migrant staff seeking employment has moved from rural areas across China to major cities. Most of the people who live in Dongguan, where three-quarters of the state’s eight million people are thought to be immigrants, leave their families behind: Mr. Ren’s babies are being raised by their parents.

” My babies of course lose me,” he says, adding he and his family “had no alternative”.

” We did n’t earn much. After the routine costs of living, the cash we sent home for our families, the cash for our children’s knowledge… we did n’t have much left. “

” All the migrant workers face this,” he continues. We must sit apart from our loved ones and work in different regions if we want to provide for our old and our kids. This is the truth. “

Then, as China’s potential sits at a juncture, so too do their lives.

The current space between Ren and his family is just big enough for one sleep and a side table. He sits there looking for work advertising while scrolling through his telephone. The majority of factories offer less than$ 18RMB ( 2 % ). 50; £2 ) per hour minimum wage. One advertisement just offered 13RMB per hour.

He needs duplication funds, and he has filed for compensation. However, the user appears to have left the country, leaving him and about 300 of his previous coworkers in uncertainty.

We were able to change things in Dongguan, and we are deeply moved by this place. This is our next house. If we had to leave this place, we would think quite lost and depressed. What the regional authorities did to give us more advantages will never be forgotten. It’s because of the government’s laws, which enabled us to work and make a living. “

From around the mid-1980s, only after China opened to the earth, Dongguan became the country’s leading trade and manufacturing center. It churned out inexpensive clothes, toys and boots.

Tens of thousands of employees would have waited at the doors in the past to begin their shifts producing boots for export to the United States.

But in more recent times, employees began to demand higher wages, while firms began cutting costs in order to gain contracts, squeezing profits further. When Donald Trump first arrived in the White House, he imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, including boots. Surfers began looking abroad for cheaper running costs and safety from the US-China trade war.

There are miles of vacant low-rise buildings in one nearly abandoned area of Dongguan, which appear to be ghost factories. A lone security guard is the only one present, avoiding any wondering observers.

A choir of birdsong has replaced the regular hum of sewing machines, and birch trees ‘ persistent roots have migrated under building’s material skeletons. The southern environment, which is comfortable and frequently tropical, is assisting nature in transforming what man has left on.

However, Dongguan is making an effort to transform itself into a high-tech gateway in an effort to regain some of its previous splendor. On the top of Songshan Lake, the tech huge Huawei has been building a school to home 25,000 people. There’s a new knowledge area and a series of accommodations.

Alan Lee is sleeping in his freshly-painted business as he tries to capitalise on the state’s new way. The 32-year-old has set his sights on bringing high-tech technology to Europe after surviving the economic slump to launch his business.

In recent years, a lot of people lost their jobs. Individuals became indebted and were forced to sell their homes. We observe that some businesses are experiencing declining export demand. The professionals are under a lot of financial strain and also forced to close their businesses. We chose to focus on trade so we do n’t have pressure on production. “

However, these positions demand understanding of the latest technological skills that people like Mr. Ren have yet to master. His chances of receiving the funds he owe are declining.

He considers what he will say to his kids about the reasons their parents stayed away.

” I do n’t know how to give a good answer. Simply put, my family and I are absent because we want to provide a better life and education. We hope you can learn something so that you wo n’t have to put in as much effort as we do. “