Early signs of recovery in heartland

Less than a year after being in the eye of an economic storm, China's manufacturing heartland might at last be showing some signs of recovery. Guangdong province - labeled one of the key "workshops of the world" - was on the firing line at the end of 2008 when North American and European consumers stopped buying their goods. Exports collapsed by 18.6 percent in the first half of this year, according to Customs statistics, as vital markets for the province's electronics, clothing and household goods manufacturers dried up. High technology The LED company is one of a large number of hi-tech businesses that make up the Guangdong economy. Often set in green landscaped parks, they contrast with the province's image of factories belching out smoke. Despite the crisis, the province still looks relatively prosperous with few obvious signs of unemployment or poverty. It has been hit hard, however, after suffering its biggest economic trauma since it set out on the road to becoming one of the industrial powerhouses of modern China more than two decades ago. There have been a number of initiatives at both provincial and municipal levels to get the province back on its feet. These include subsidies for employing people, tax reductions and other stimulus measures. One of the main strategies of government authorities has been to lessen its dependence on foreign-owned companies - some 2,542 of which deserted the province last year as a result of the financial crisis. LCD televisions The production lines at the manufacturing plant in Huizhou of TCL Corp, China's third-largest TV maker, are still going at full tilt. The plant is producing 5,000 46-inch and 8,000 32-inch LCD TV modules a day. Although exports are down 20 percent year-on-year, the company has been helped by a massive 248.9 percent increase in domestic sales of LCD televisions. The company has been given a major boost by the government's "new for old" policy, which subsidizes consumers buying new TVs, cars and other products. Hybrid cars One of Guangdong's exciting new industries is hybrid car maker BYD, in which billionaire investor Warren Buffett recently purchased a $232 million stake. BYD employs more than half of its 130,000 employees in the province, also making other lines such as batteries for mobile phones. It introduced the world's first mass produced plug-in hybrid vehicle, the F3, in December 2008 in the first months of the economic crisis. While car sales slumped across the world, the company's sales in the first half of this year were up 176 percent, exceeding total sales for the whole of 2008. Huang Juan, a spokesperson for BYD's auto export division, said the company has benefited from the stimulus package and the government's focus on developing a new energy car industry. Alternative energy Once just a small iron plate factory, Mingyang Electric makes wind turbines and is at the forefront of China's new energy sector. Four years ago, it had just three people working on turbines. Now it employs 1,700, and its turnover is set to double this year to 5 billion yuan from 2.1 billion yuan last year. A flotation on NASDAQ has been postponed from late this year to next year. Mingyang Electric has had to switch some of the production of its turbines nearer to its main markets in the north of China. It costs 300,000 yuan to transport just one unit by road from Zhongshan.