Protests by workers demanding back wages are spreading across China in a sign of growing discontent among millions suffering the brunt of factory closures, triggered by steep U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports amid an economic downturn.
Across the country – from Hunan province’s Dao county in central China to Sichuan’s Suining city in the southwest and Inner Mongolia’s Tongliao city to the northeast – hundreds of disgruntled workers have taken to the streets to protest about unpaid wages and to challenge unfair dismissals by factories that were forced to shut due to the U.S. tariffs.
【中国多地传出讨薪、罢工维权运动】
— 自由亚洲电台 (@RFA_Chinese) April 29, 2025
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“Strike! Strike!” shouted workers outside a Shangda Electronics’ factory in Suining city on Sunday, in a video of the protest that was posted on social media by X user ‘@YesterdayBigcat,’ a prominent source of information about protests in China.
The workers said the Sichuan-headquartered company, which manufactures flexible circuit boards, had not paid them wages since the start of the year and social security benefits for nearly two years – since June 2023.
Analysts at U.S.-based investment bank Goldman Sachs estimated that at least 16 million jobs, across industries, in China are at risk due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 145% tariff on Chinese imports.
They expect the Trump administration’s tariff increases will “significantly weigh on the Chinese economy,” with slower economic growth likely to put further pressure on the country’s labor market, particularly in export-related sectors.
In China’s manufacturing industry, the communication equipment sector is likely to lose the most jobs, followed by apparel and chemical product sectors, Goldman analysts, including Xinquan Chen and Lisheng Wang, wrote in a note to clients on Sunday.
Earlier this week, more than a dozen migrant workers in Tuanjie village in Xi’an prefecture-level city in China’s northwestern Shaanxi province complained at a local project department, saying they had not received their wages since February 2025.
Last week, on April 24, hundreds of workers of Guangxin Sports Goods in Dao county went on strike after the company’s factory was shut down without paying employees their compensation or their social security benefits.
Workers at the company’s factory, which produces sports protective gear and related accessories, said Guangxin Sports unfairly dismissed more than 100 female employees, aged over 50 years, in September 2024 on the grounds of “reaching retirement age,” without paying them their wages or guiding them on retirement procedures.
When Radio Free Asia contacted Guangxin for a comment, a male employee at the company immediately hung up the phone on hearing the word “reporter.” The Dao County Labor and Social Security Bureau told RFA that “Guangxin still has dozens of employees operating.”
Elsewhere in Inner Mongolia, many construction workers gathered on the rooftops of Jincan Royal Garden Community in Tongliao city on April 25 where they threatened to jump off the building if they were not paid the back wages they were due, another video posted on the same X account showed.
Economic pressures
Experts say the growing number of worker protests in China reflect the current crisis of poor management at some Chinese companies and signal deepening economic troubles for the country amid trade tensions with the United States.
Beijing-based activist Ji Feng, who was among the student leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, said many Chinese business owners he met recently have complained bitterly about the difficulties they face, including the lack of business activity and funds.
“Some bosses even said that they would rather go to jail than do anything,” Ji told RFA.
“As long as there is a protest (by workers), the company must find a way to borrow money to pay wages. For example, if wages are in arrears for three months, they must be paid monthly even if they need to borrow money. If they cannot be paid on time, the government may arrest people (employers),” Ji said.
He noted, however, that worker protests are not a new phenomenon, with these increasing after the pandemic as China’s economic environment deteriorated.
According to the U.S.-based nonprofit Freedom House’s China Dissent Monitor, the majority of protests tracked in China during the third quarter of 2024 were led by workers, who accounted for 41% of in-person and online dissent events in the country.
About three-quarters of all protests recorded in China were linked to economic grievances, including workers demanding unpaid wages, homeowners facing stalled housing projects, and rural conflict related to land confiscation, Freedom House said.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.