Death by a thousand job cuts: the human cost of China’s zombie firms
Residents of Tonghua in northeast China who lost their jobs when the city’s state-owned steel plant got into difficulties share their stories
Mr and Mrs Chen, both in their late 50s, opened a small bakery three years ago after they quit the nearby state-owned steel plant where they had worked for three decades. There may be a future in running a bun shop, but not at a dying state-run behemoth.
The Tonghua Iron & Steel plant opened in 1958 during China’s experiment with industrialisation, a period known as the Great Leap Forward. As the biggest state steelmaker in Jilin province, on the border with North Korea, the plant provided workers with cradle-to-grave welfare coverage and a sense of belonging, ownership and pride.
But not any more.
On the afternoon of the South China Morning Post’s visit, there were not many customers in the Chens’ bakery - a converted front room in their ground-floor flat - but the couple said running their own small business was far better than working at the steel plant.