IT IS quiet these days on Sunday afternoons in the streets of Dongguan, where almost every block outside the city centre is a factory or housing for workers. A red banner above one plant advertising for staff says it has enough orders to keep production lines busy for a year. Locals say the sign has been there at least two years and it is no longer true.Only a few years ago, things were very different. Even on Sundays, the streets were busy and the chimneys were spewing pollution. The city was the epicentre of China’s export boom. Built largely with money from Taiwan, Dongguan sprang up between Shenzhen and Guangzhou, making toys, furniture, shoes, mobile phones — everything.Almost all of the 8-million people in the city came from somewhere else in China, apart from the 720,000 children born since they arrived. Many, like factory worker Yu, made it their home. Now she is considering moving back to Chongqing in the centre of China, which she left 20 years ago."This is the worst time ...
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