beijing chinas manufacturing heartland has been hit by largescale strikes in recent weeks as an increasingly demanding workforce faces off with employers struggling with high costs and falling exports thousands of workers in factories in the southern province of guangdong have gone on strike in recent days protesting over low salaries wage cuts or tough conditions and triggering a strong police response and some clashes the unrest comes as chinas exports and manufacturing activity weakens hit by falling demand due to economic woes in europe and the united states both crucial markets for the exportdriven economy when orders and profits decline and costs of business increase for manufacturers their first instinct is to pass those costs on to the workers said geoffrey crothall editor of the china labour bulletin he said many factories in guangdong were cutting back on lucrative overtime bonuses and benefits for their workers even as living costs remain high thats why we are seeing workers much more willing to go out on strike and protest he told afp adding that the recent bout of unrest was the most intense since a series of strikes in the summer of 2010 earlier this month more than 7000 workers went on strike at a factory in guangdong making new balance adidas and nike shoes clashing with police in a protest over layoffs and wage cuts in shenzhen the manufacturing metropolis that borders hong kong more than 400 female workers at a bra factory downed tools to demand higher wages alistair thornton china analyst at ihs global insight said guangdongs huge army of factory staff many of them migrant workers would go on feeling the effects of the global slowdown theres a lot more upward pressure from the labour force as it demands higher wages but at the same time it increasingly looks like theres less room in the global economy for the chinese exporter theres a conflict there he said ji shao a beijingbased labour expert at capital university of economics and business said she had just come back from shenzhen and painted a pessimistic picture she added that a huge number of small enterprises could be forced to shut their doors pressured by high costs difficulty accessing loans and the global downturn vice premier wang qishan chinas top finance official warned just over a week ago that the global recession was here to stay and would affect the worlds second largest economy other countries in asia are also bracing for a rough ride bank of japan governor masaaki shirakawa said thursday that tokyo should prepare for potential major shocks from europe manufacturing is a key driver of growth and employment in china a fall in monthonmonth exports in october triggered in part by the deepening eurozone debt crisis fuelled fears for the sector mark williams china economist at capital economics said the level of exports in the country had remained essentially flat from one month to the next since the first quarter of