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Why more workers in China are ruling out factory jobs

Apr 17, 2023
Despite high unemployment among young people, most factories are short of workers. It might reflect false promises and poor conditions.
Production in progress at a factory in China's eastern Anhui province. Factory work has lost much of its popularity as a career choice. “The workers just don't trust factory owners,” one former employee said.
STR/AFP via Getty Images

China's big question after ending "zero-COVID" rules: How many have died?

Feb 7, 2023
David struggled to help his 83-year-old father before he died of COVID. Will his father's death be counted in China's official toll?
Hundreds of millions of people in China were infected within weeks of the abrupt end to "zero-COVID" rules, experts say. Above, patients are cared for by relatives and medical staff in the atrium of a busy hospital on Jan. 13 in Shanghai.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

For business owners in China, a touch-and-go reopening after zero-COVID

Jan 30, 2023
While China's most high-profile executives express unflagging optimism on TV, for small business owners, the picture is more complicated.
Food vendors at the Muslim quarter in Xi'an seem bored without customers in late December 2022. That was when COVID infections swept across China.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace

What does the future hold for China's zero-COVID policies?

The protests reflect simmering anger over strict government COVID measures.
Scott Kennedy with the Center for Strategic and International Studies says China is beginning to move away from its strict COVID rules, even if the government won't admit it.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace