The Chinese government estimates the country's population of internal migrant workers at 130m. Of these, about 80m have gone so far as to leave their home province behind – typically moving from poor interior to richer coast – in their search for work and better futures for themselves and their children. The city of Dongguan, where Mr Xie oversees his transport hub, is one of the largest export centres in China's southern Guangdong province, which has become known as “the world's workshop”.

Last month, however, he began to notice that the migrant workers streaming through the terminal were not travelling as lightly as normal. Some were weighed down by television sets or even refrigerators. “Many have been laid off by factories and are taking all their belongings back home,” says Mr Xie. After the holiday, he suspects, “they may not return”.

China's migrant workers form the base of the global supply chain. It is they who produce the cheap manufactured goods that American, European and Japanese consumers have come to take for granted. But the global financial crisis, with its depressing effect on consumption in the world's richest economies, now threatens to rebound on China's manufacturing class.