Violent unrest rocks China as crisis hits

The collapse of the export trade in China has left millions jobless and set off a wave of violent unrest in the country.

Bankruptcies, unemployment and social unrest are spreading more widely in China than officially reported, according to an independent research that paints an ominous picture for the world economy, The Sunday Times reported on Sunday.

The research was conducted for the newspaper over the last two months in three provinces vital to Chinese trade - Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

It was found that the global economic crisis has scythed through exports and set off dozens of protests that are never mentioned by the state media.

According to the report in the Southern province of Guangdong, three jobless men detonated a bomb in a business travellers' hotel in the commercial city of Foshan to extort money from the management.

All along the coast, angry workers besieged labour offices and government buildings after dozens of factories closed their doors, without paying wages and their owners went back to Hong Kong, Taiwan or South Korea.

In Southern China, hundreds of workers blocked a highway to protest against pay cuts imposed by managers. At several factories, there were scenes of chaos as police were called to top creditors breaking in to seize equipment in lieu of debts.

In Northern China, television journalists were punished after they prepared a story on the occupation of a textile mill by 6,000 workers.

Furious local leaders in the city of Linfen said the news item would "destroy social stability" and banned it.