Path toward prosperity encounters roadblocks

Seeing the glittering gems in a department store, you would never associate them with the messy scene typical of a cubic zirconia-processing workshop in Wuzhou.

It is an industry that has brought wealth to many but one that faces mounting obstacles to its continued development.

On a recent day at Meng Ying's company, a local firm with annual sales of 10 million yuan ($1.6 million), about 20 young migrant workers sit busily cutting and polishing the diamond-like synthetic stones amid a cacophony of noise.