China manufacturing

Every Tuesday and Thursday, Inkstone Explains unravels the ideas and context behind the headlines to help you understand news about China. When China started locking down cities and towns in early 2020 to combat the coronavirus pandemic, it created a ripple effect that forced companies around the world to halt their production of items ranging from car components, chemicals and smartphones to surgical masks and toys. The pandemic alerted people to the danger of relying solely on China to make their products, a phenomenon that earned China the nickname “the world’s factory.” But now the situation is changing right before our eyes. Rising wages and tougher environmental rules in China, plus pu

Every Tuesday and Thursday, Inkstone Index features one important number about China to give you insight into the rising power. 24.6%: The percentage of Chinese factory workers that are older than 50. China’s factory workers are aging quickly. In 2009, 12.2% of factory workers in China were aged 50 years or older. By 2019, that number had grown to 24.6%.  At the same time, the percentage of young people – aged between 21 to 30 – fell from 35.8% to 23.1%, according to data compiled by the 21st Century Business Herald, a Chinese newspaper. The numbers point to an economy that is shifting away from its manufacturing core and toward a service-based model.   Furthermore, the changing demographics

A “wild feeding frenzy” is under way in China for medical equipment crucial to containing the spread of the coronavirus around the world. Scalpers stake out factories with suitcases loaded with cash to secure millions of surgical masks hot off the production line. Dealers trade ventilators back and forth as if they were cargos of coal before they finally reach the end buyer carrying eye-watering mark-ups. Governments wire eight-figure sums of money for vital equipment only to lose out to another government that was quicker to produce the cash. We are slap bang in the middle of a gold rush for the year’s most sought-after commodities – masks, gloves, thermometers, ventilators, hospital beds,