DONGGUAN, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The southern Chinese city of Dongguan is known as the "factory of the world."
The city came back to life right after the Chinese Spring Festival holiday ended, demonstrating a sharp contrast to scenes in previous years when a large number of migrant workers returned to their home towns for the year's most important festival for family reunions.
To prevent a possible resurgence of COVID-19 cases, the Chinese government advised both migrant workers and residents to stay put for the holiday this year.
According to the municipal government of Dongguan, the city houses 11,000 industrial enterprises, employing more than five million people. Among these, more than three million chose to stay in the city this year.
During the seven-day holiday, some of the enterprises kept operating, while more factories resumed production right after the holiday, at least two weeks earlier than in previous years. Staying put this year has not only stemmed the spread of the virus, but also helped enterprises to reduce costs by not having to employ extra workers after the holiday and increase their capability of delivering orders, bringing a "warm spring" for China's manufacturing industry.
As the Chinese Lunar New Year is the most important time for family reunion, most migrant workers usually leave for their home towns half a month before the festival, and return two weeks after the festival ends, with some finding new jobs. This moving pattern means enterprises normally have to adjust their production schedules and face labor shortages after the festival.
This year, to encourage workers to remain in the city, many Donguan enterprises provided higher overtime pay, entertainment activities, and increased subsidies.
Dongguan is considered an important indicator of China's manufacturing capability.
Zhan Zhibin, director of the Bureau of Industrial and Information Technology in Dongguan, said that although the impact of the pandemic still lingers, he was confident about the performance of enterprises in Dongguan. Taking industrial investment as an example, he said it rose by 11 percent in 2020 despite the pandemic, providing vitality for the continuing growth of the city's manufacturing industry.
"We expect the city's GDP to increase by six percent this year, maintaining a strong growth momentum," Zhan said.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
