China’s Lunar New Year Exodus Threatens More Factory Disruption
- Millions of workers travel again after Covid rules ended
- Factories are doling out cash to lure staff back after holiday
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When Liu Junde was told by his boss he couldn’t take 20 days of leave from his factory job in Yiwu city in China, he promptly quit.
Like hundreds of millions of workers across China, it’s the first time in three years that Liu, 48, will be able to travel to his hometown during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays. Having endured three years of Covid travel restrictions, which had made the journey home complicated and costly, he says he has no regrets leaving his job at a solar panel parts factory, where he was a warehouse worker.