By Zhan Lisheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-02-28 09:59

Having recently quit his job as a deputy director for a Taiwan-invested shoe factory in the Pearl River Delta boomtown of Dongguan, Liu Qiaopei is in the market for a new post.

"My boss decided to relocate his factory to a small city in Jiangxi province. I don't want to go there," he told China Daily yesterday over the phone.

"I chose to quit the job before the Chinese New Year; and I've been looking for a new one ever since."

Liu, who has managed about 200 staff in a small shoe factory, said it was not easy finding a similar job in Dongguan or neighboring cities in the Pearl River Delta region.

"Many small shoe factories here have closed down or moved away to less developed regions," he said.

"The figure must have surpassed 1,000."

He said the same is also true of factories in other labor-intensive industries.

Official figures for the number of the companies that have closed down or moved out of the region are not currently available.

"We are still investigating the situation, so we don't have all the details," an official with Guangdong foreign trade and economic cooperation department, who asked not to be named, told China Daily.

Ding Li, a researcher with the Guangdong academy of social sciences, said the relocation of labor-intensive firms from the Pearl River Delta to less-developed regions is inevitable for the development of the province's economy.

"The case might not be as severe as people imagine," Ding said.

"But the upgrading of industries should be carried out gradually," he said.

"And market mechanisms should play a greater role than the government in this respect."

Ding also called for local governments to stay alert to the negative consequences of the relocations, including the closure of many more related facilities, and the unemployment issue.

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