"Honestly, I think whatever measures government would take at the current stage would not turn around this trend," said Ye Hang, an economics professor at Zhejiang University. "The government can only try its best to put out a fire here and there."
In recent weeks, there have been many fires, increasingly large-scale. In Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai, Ye counted at least six major bankruptcies, including Jianglong; Feiyue Group, China's biggest sewing machine maker; and Zhejiang Yixin Pharmaceutical Co., among the largest in that industry.
"Of these six, one [owner] committed suicide, one was detained by police, and the remaining four all escaped," he said. "I can imagine that in the future, there would be more such cases as a result of the chain reaction."
The wave of factory closings began in Guangdong province, where the nation's economic reforms were launched three decades ago.
The region accounts for about 30% of China's exports, but over the last couple of years, Shenzhen, Dongguan and other cities in the area have sought to clean up the environment and create an economy based more on services and higher-value products. Makers of labor-intensive goods such as shoes, garments and furniture no longer felt welcome.
By the official numbers, Chinese exports remained brisk through September, except for a few categories such as apparel, which fell 3% in September from the same month in 2007. But many exporters aren't making a profit, and others are seeing shrinking orders or are starving for cash. Newspapers in Hong Kong, which is close to Guangdong, have been running virtually daily reports of the latest factory to falter.
"Don't even mention the U.S. market," grumbled Zhong Shijun, general manager of Foshan City Golden Furniture Co. "Even our EU market is dropping seriously in the last two months because the euro is depreciating."
Toy makers are among the hardest hit. More than 3,600 such factories have closed -- about half the industry's total, government figures show. Most were small operations, but last month Smart Union Group's three huge factories stopped production, leaving more than 8,700 workers jobless.
After workers protested in the streets, Guangdong's government said it would cover $4 million in back wages and help them find jobs. But many others have no one to help them. Migrant workers generally don't qualify for unemployment benefits, and although China's bankruptcy laws give unpaid workers priority, that's of little value if owners run away and there are few corporate assets.
