Workers produce magnets at Dongguan Jinconn New Material Holdings Co on May 22. Photo: Zhang Hongpei/GT

It is undeniable that the ongoing trade war waged by the Trump administration has caused some impact on China's economy, especially export-oriented businesses. However, it has been proved by history that the country will only become stronger after experiencing such a challenge in its road of development.

During a three-day visit to Dongguan, a manufacturing hub in South China's Guangdong Province, dubbed the world's factory, I saw two familiar scenes: traditional labor-intensive manufacturing and high-end robots working with only a few people.

The boundaries between the developed downtown and the sprawling rural areas are blurred. But Dongguan's 30-some towns have built up their own unique industrial chains over the past few decades in sectors ranging from shoes to electronic goods. Some obsolete two- or three-story facilities stand next to shiny office buildings. It's hard to imagine that sophisticated and advanced products are born in those unimpressive facilities.

When the global financial crisis pummeled the world in 2008, the city only suffered limited damage. There were five five-star hotels in one town in Dongguan as suppliers and manufacturers from all across China and overseas were attracted to the place for making lucrative profits.

But Dongguan has had to implement industrial upgrades. Processing trade with little added value cannot be valued in the world's factory while high-end manufacturing is available.

Industrial upgrading is not just a slogan for local businesses. Rather it has been integrated with corporate strategies for transformation aimed at shaking off ways of earning profits. 

Dongguan is no longer an ideal place to make money for blue-collar workers. Many prefer to work near home as the economy in China's hinterland provinces grows rapidly.

Entrepreneurs who have made fortunes in the region now have trouble hiring staff while coping with fewer orders from US customers. These companies don't want to admit that the trade war is hurting their businesses, but they need to take action to survive. 

For these companies that witnessed the growth of China's manufacturing industry, opportunities go hand in hand with risks.

It seems like the city has not been touched by the trade war. Like before, goods are rushed to the port from the factories; workers are proud to put in overtime to make components used in Huawei's products; some private entrepreneurs are traveling more abroad to look for more customers.

Data from the Dongguan Municipal Statistics Bureau showed that the city's GDP grew 7.4 percent last year to 827.9 billion yuan ($123.5 billion), higher than the average growth rate of Guangdong Province or the nation as a whole.

The trade war might mean temporary hard times for Chinese exports as the war is intended to weaken China's manufacturing supply chain and bring work back to the US, but Chinese people's diligence and resilience in face of difficulties can never be underestimated.

It wasn't easy to shape the China of today, and it will be equally hard to topple it down. 

The US tariffs have not yet compelled businesses to return manufacturing plants to the US, where labor and other costs tend to be much higher than in China and other overseas manufacturing hubs, the New York Times reported.

China raised the rate of additional tariffs imposed on some imported US products from Saturday, a decision that came after the US moved to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent.

Years ago, some foreign-invested companies and private Chinese ones had already moved some production from Dongguan to Southeast Asia due to rising labor and land costs. The process is being accelerated by the trade war to avoid tariffs.

But some are firmly holding onto the Chinese market, in the hopes of making another bucket of gold.


Newspaper headline: Factories will only get stronger