COVID-19 Puts a Jolt of Electricity Through China’s Manufacturing Industry

Many factories recalled workers during the Chinese New Year vacation to respond to the shortage of masks due to the spread of COVID-19. 

Chinese New Year is celebrated each year with a week-long national holiday. In 2020, however, the holiday was mired with uncertainty as a result of the spread of the novel coronavirus. Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, was locked down a day before vacation began. Similar measures were imposed in other Chinese cities. No one knew if or when they could return to work. For some, the vacation continued for weeks or turned into months-long work-from-home orders. For most factory workers, however, vacation was over before it even began. One smartphone factory worker recounts driving a day and night to make it back home for New Year’s Eve dinner. The next day, she received a call from her manager to come back to work. Instead of phones, her manager said, they would be making masks. By the time she reported back to work on the third day of the New Year, her factory had converted its existing machinery and equipment into assembly lines capable of producing 120,000 medical-use surgical masks every day.

Factories across China that made...