It feels like the end of an era. The spate of strikes and suicides that has rocked China's southern manufacturing belt over the past fortnight could well mark the time that China stopped being a place of limitless cheap labour. And for the economy, that could be a thoroughly good thing.
The manufacturing hub in Guangdong province has been buzzing with two different but related stories – the suicides at Foxconn, the company that makes the Apple iPad and other high-tech devices, and a high-profile strike at a Honda components plant.
Both events have also resulted in eye-catching wage increases – 30 per cent in the case of the Foxconn workers and a 24 per cent offer at the Honda factory (they wanted 50 per cent).
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