This was supposed to be a spring of soup kitchens and breadlines in China's manufacturing heartlands, the potential precursor to a long, hot summer of industrial unrest threatening the government's vision of a “harmonious society”. Times are hard in China's export sector, the hardest in memory. Exports from southern Guangdong province, which account for a third of the country's total, fell 21 per cent in January and February as western retailers ran down their inventories. But in March the year-on-year decline was a less precipitous 14 per cent, and widespread worker unrest has failed to materialise in the Pearl River delta, Guangdong's industrial hub.
按照人們的推測，在中國制造業中心，這將是一個賑濟處和待救濟者的春天，接下來可能是一個漫長、炎熱、充滿產業動蕩的夏天，將會危及中國政府構建“和諧社會”的愿景。中國的出口業形勢艱難，是人們記憶中最艱難的時期。今年1月和2月，隨著西方零售商繼續消耗庫存，占全國出口三分之一的廣東省出口下滑了21%。但今年3月，廣東省的同比出口跌幅縮窄至14%，而廣東工業中心珠江三角洲的大規模勞資糾紛也沒有出現。