Tide turns against businesses

GUANGZHOU - Guo Zhuliang took a deep breath and shook his head as he talked about his company.

"We have 33 injection molding machines. But less than half of them are operating due to reduced orders. I am really worried about the future," said Guo, a production manager at Huijun Plastic in Foshan, a manufacturing city on the Pearl River Delta.

Guo's concern followed the closure of another plastic company, also located in Foshan, whose boss ran away on Aug 19 without paying wages to more than 1,000 workers.