Few were bigger than Jianglong, which is Chinese for "River dragon." The company posted sales of about $110 million and a profit of $14 million last year, according to its annual report. Its owner, Tao, boasted of the company's sophisticated research and development capabilities and a base of global customers that included Wal-Mart.
Tao, a balding man with thick bags under his eyes, was a mystery to most workers and suppliers. He and his wife arrived in Shaoxing earlier in the decade, opening a four-person trading firm catering to Middle Eastern buyers, said people from Tao's hometown in neighboring Jiangsu province.
By 2004, he was exporting $2.5 million of goods, and two years later, after listing the company on Singapore's stock exchange under the name China Printing & Dyeing Holding Ltd., Tao bought two companies and built a massive factory outfitted with Japanese and Italian equipment. This year, as he began to miss or delay payments to suppliers, Tao told them he would soon be raising tens of millions of dollars by listing the company on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
But Tao's plans were foiled by the global financial crisis and the sudden turn of fortunes for exporters, according to suppliers, many of whom fault the local government for supporting Tao and continuing to assure them and employees that the company's listing on Nasdaq was on track.
Government officials said last week that Tao and his wife had been caught, but they refused to comment further. "It's very hard for me to analyze why or how it had this problem," said Jin Agen, vice director of Shaoxing's Publicity Department.
On the day Jianglong was shut down, 2,000 workers jammed the streets outside the factory, blocking traffic and demanding answers. Several hundred police officers scuffled with workers. Later that day, government officials agreed to pay employees.
"I'll go home and farm," said Yang Chaoxian, 43, who had earned about $260 a month working 12 hours a day, seven days a week. "Labor here is too hard," said the Chongqing native, a cigarette tucked behind his ear. "After I leave, I don't ever want to come back."
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Cao Jun of The Times' Shanghai Bureau contributed to this report.
