China's strict lockdown: Migrant workers forced home, factory owners struggling to survive
India Blooms, China, 14 November 2022 - Lockdowns in China’s southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou have sent migrant workers scurrying for home and left the thousands of micro- and small-sized enterprises that they rely on for employment wondering whether they will be able to survive the latest onslaught of COVID-19.
Guangzhou is at the centre of the latest nationwide surge in cases after it reported more than 2,000 on Wednesday, with mass testing and lockdowns in place for its 19 million population, reports The South China Morning Post.
China’s largest fabric market, Zhongda, is usually home to some 100,000 employees, but the 5 sq km (1.9 square miles) market, one and a half times the size of New York’s Central Park, is almost empty.
Zhongda had been until last week the home and workplace for Hu An, a skilled migrant worker from Hubei province, but he hurriedly packed up his belongings and returned home to undergo five days of local authority mandated quarantine.
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