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From the AP via China Digital Times:

The Jianrong Suitcase Factory in Dongguan, Guangdong closed without warning, and gave its workers only 60% of promised October-December wages. William Foreman of the Associated Press reports on the ensuing riot:

On Friday morning, riot police with helmets and shields were called in and sealed off the factory compound, blocking the workers, who live in dormitories inside, from leaving. The plan appeared to be to keep them from protesting outside the factory until they collected their final wages and left for the holiday.

But by noon, about 100 workers got fed up and marched out of the factory. They were led by a short, stocky worker named Dai Houxue, who chanted, “There are no human rights here!” as he pushed away the arm of a policeman who tried to restrain him.

“They have been trying to lock us up in the factory because they don’t want us to come out and have the international media cover our protest,” Dai said.

The scene challenged the popular stereotype of Chinese migrant workers as being simple country folk, subservient to officialdom and great at “eating bitterness” — enduring hardship without complaint. In fact, for many, factory work is a mind-opening experience that exposes them to protest tactics and concepts like labor rights.

This is not the first labor riot in Guangdong this winter; major riots at a plastic factory, toy factory, and manufacturing plant have all taken place within the past month.

From Phayul:

Police held hundreds of protesting workers inside a suitcase factory in southern China to prevent them from staging a public demonstration about a wage dispute Friday, a worker said from the compound.

The standoff at the Jianrong Suitcase Factory in the southern city of Dongguan is the latest unrest arising from layoffs, poor working conditions and slashed wages in China, where thousands of companies have gone bust in recent months.

On Friday, more than 30 police, some with helmets and riot shields, were guarding the front of the factory.

Workers could be seen pressed up against the metal bars at the dormitory's windows looking out at the police. About 30 workers were on the roof of the building.

One worker leading the protest, Zhang Guohua, said police had been holding about 300 laborers inside the factory and an adjacent five-story dormitory since Friday morning to prevent them from demonstrating publicly.

"One girl tried leaving her dorm but was beaten on the head with a metal baton and was sent to hospital with serious injuries. They just don't want us to protest. If we try to leave, they will beat us even more," Zhang told The Associated Press by telephone from inside the dorm.

The protest started Dec. 15 outside the factory, Zhang said, but after company officials said they would not negotiate, the workers went to the Dongguan city government office to seek help on Thursday, where some of them were beaten by police.

The workers stayed outside the government office overnight, waiting for a resolution but were forced back to the factory compound in the morning by police officers, police dogs and trucks, ordered by the local government, he said.

In the early afternoon, about 100 workers pushed their way through the police and out of the plant compound shouting, "We have no human rights here!" Police videotaped the laborers as they gathered in a small alleyway near the factory gate.

"They have been trying to lock us up in the factory because they don't want us to come out and have the international media cover our protest," said one of the workers who escaped, Dai Houxue.

Zhang said about a dozen people were sent to the hospital with injuries after being hit by police when they were being forced inside.

Officers guarding the factory gate, which was cordoned off with police tape, refused to answer a reporter's questions.

More than 7,000 companies in Guangdong, the province across the border from Hong Kong, closed down or moved elsewhere in the first nine months of the year, the official China Daily newspaper recently reported.

The factory problems put further pressure on a government struggling to maintain social stability in areas where factories were struggling because of rising wage and raw material costs, even before the onset of the global financial crisis.

Zhang said the suitcase company had ceased operations Dec. 15, and some workers had not been paid for 2 1/2 months. Those who had not been paid had been told to expect only 60 percent of their salaries, while those who had been paid would have to return 40 percent of what they received, he said.

Zhang said his monthly salary was 2,000 yuan ($290), while other workers at the factory earned half that amount.

The local government Friday offered to pay 60 percent of their wages for the final month of work, but the workers rejected it.

Calls to the Jianrong Suitcase Factory were not answered Friday. Other details about the company were not known.

From Taiwan News:

Laid-off migrant worker Chen Li had red scrape marks on his right cheek from a scuffle with riot police outside his factory that went bust this week in southern China.

Now the angry young man is going home early to his village in northern Hubei province for the annual Chinese New Year holiday, where he says he will be bored and idle for a couple of months. It's restless migrants like Chen who are among the biggest worries for Chinese leaders trying to maintain social order during a souring economy.

"I've grown used to living in the city now," said Chen, 25, looking urbane Friday in a new but slightly dusty blue suit. "I just can't stand the country life anymore."

During boom years, workers like Chen would still be toiling on the assembly line, looking forward to banking another month or so of pay before the Chinese New Year, which begins Jan. 26. But this year thousands of factories have gone belly up in Guangdong province _ the country's main manufacturing hub _ forcing the migrants to head home early.

With the global economic downturn, Christmas export orders were down for Chinese factories, and more bad economic news has followed. In November, growth in China's factory output fell to its lowest level in nearly seven years. More than 7,000 companies in Guangdong closed down or moved elsewhere in the first nine months of the year, the official China Daily newspaper reported.

For workers like Chen, the chances of finding another job are low. This is the slow season, with Christmas orders already shipped off. A new hiring frenzy normally kicks off after the New Year holiday, when migrants flood back to industrial zones in one of the world's biggest annual human migrations.

Until then, authorities will be under pressure to keep a lid on discontent in villages, where many workers may still be simmering over how their jobs came to a bad end.

It has become common in Guangdong for factory owners to suddenly shut down their cash-strapped plants and disappear without paying laborers.

That's what happened at Chen's factory _ the Jianrong Suitcase Factory in the city of Dongguan. The plant shut down Tuesday without warning and its 300 workers began taking to the streets, demanding full payment of wages.

Local government officials eventually glued an announcement to the factory's walls, saying its Japanese owner could not be located and the workers would only get 60 percent of the monthly wages they had earned since October. The laborers, paid an average monthly salary of 1,500 yuan, or about $220, refused to accept the deal.

Calls to the factory rang unanswered Friday, and there was no information on the owner or his whereabouts; the workers said the factory's Taiwanese manager had not been seen since Tuesday.

On Friday morning, riot police with helmets and shields were called in and sealed off the factory compound, blocking the workers, who live in dormitories inside, from leaving. The plan appeared to be to keep them from protesting outside the factory until they collected their final wages and left for the holiday.

But by noon, about 100 workers got fed up and marched out of the factory. They were led by a short, stocky worker named Dai Houxue, who chanted, "There are no human rights here!" as he pushed away the arm of a policeman who tried to restrain him.

"They have been trying to lock us up in the factory because they don't want us to come out and have the international media cover our protest," Dai said.

The scene challenged the popular stereotype of Chinese migrant workers as being simple country folk, subservient to officialdom and great at "eating bitterness" _ enduring hardship without complaint. In fact, for many, factory work is a mind-opening experience that exposes them to protest tactics and concepts like labor rights.

One worker, Yang Xiwei, said police with riot sticks hit her in the stomach when she tried to leave the factory Friday morning to do some shopping.

"We work so hard in this factory and then we get beaten by the police. What kind of system is this?" asked Yang, a mother of two from Hubei.

One of the officers leading the police denied anyone was hit. He declined to give his name.

Another worker, Fu Yuankui from southwestern Sichuan province, also complained the workers' rights were violated. "China has developed so much economically in recent years, but it's still like this," he said.

As about 30 riot police guarded the front gate, the workers boldly shut another gate that led to a courtyard where they gathered. They screamed and yelled when police tried to enter.

Then, catching sight of a plainclothes policeman in a crew cut, khaki pants and black shirt who had slipped inside and was eavesdropping on their conversations, they quickly surrounded him and shouted: "You are not employed here. Leave now!"

Using loudspeakers, officials urged the workers to take their final wages and leave. But the workers refused and remained in the compound, shouting from their dormitory balconies, "We don't want it. You're uncivilized. You beat people."

The officials left after an hour, refusing to comment to an Associated Press reporter.

How to manage the disgruntled workers flocking back to the countryside has been a frequent topic in the Chinese media in recent weeks. The state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that officials were setting up special job-training programs and encouraging migrants to start their own businesses in farming and raising fish and poultry.

But Liu Shanying, an analyst at the Institute of Political Science in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the fears of unrest are overblown. The workers will be less likely to run wild when they're back in their patriarchal clans and under the control of family and relatives, he said.

"When they get back to their hometowns, they will be better-behaved," he said.