News Digest: Lunar New Year Holiday comes, and Some Companies try to Keep Business as Usual -- But Workers would Say Otherwise Flocks of travellers waiting for their train back home. (Southern Weekly) It is the first Lunar New Year Festival without travelling restrictions since 2021, and migrant workers travel en masse. Known as the "biggest human migration in the world", although somewhat exaggerated, the festival marks a time when rural migrant workers head back home to spend time with their families. After 2 years of travelling ban, workers thrust back home at an even earlier time than usual, and estimated daily traveller counts exceed 30 million throughout the nation. While most industries take a break, a few were anxious to maintain production in the festival period, for different reasons. They however face very different fates. As Discontent over Employment Terms Grew, Couriers Struggle to Maintain Holiday Delivery Workforce A parcel delivery staff. (Time Finance)

1. Research background In recent years, China's electric vehicle industry has developed rapidly, benefitting from conditions such as policy encouragement and its competitive pricing. According to the "Global Electric Vehicle Outlook (2022)" report, even if the supply chain has been hampered by the pandemic, the global sales of electric vehicles in 2022 still doubled compared with last year, reaching 6.6 million vehicles. Among them, the sales of electric vehicles in China accounted for half of the global sales growth, reaching 3.3 million, ranking first in the world . New energy vehicles are mainly divided into pure electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles . New energy vehicle factories are widely distributed in China, and are mainly located in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, with pure electric vehicle production as the majority. Automobile production is generally semi-automated so productivity has been improved. The State Council's "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" vigorously advocates high-quality development of the new energy vehicle industry in order to cope with climate change, reducing fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. While the new energy vehicle industry is heavily supported by the state, how about the auto workers? This report is based on visits to four factories that mainly produce pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. It documented the labour conditions of auto workers in the form of interviews and questionnaires, trying to understand the specific situation of front-line workers in the electric vehicle industry. 2. Methodology The research took place in Guangzhou and Zhaoqing in the Pearl River Delta region. We’ve visited four factories with a variety of ownership structures: private, state-owned, and Sino-Japanese joint ventures. They mainly produce pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The research was conducted in the form of face-to-face interviews and questionnaires. A total of 50 valid questionnaires and 5 detailed interviews were conducted and collected.