As the most important holiday in China, the Chinese New Year, approached, the Chuangying Toy Factory suddenly declared bankruptcy, leaving many of its employees unpaid and short of cash for the holiday season. Over 1,000 of its employees took to the streets on Jan. 11 demanding that the local government help get their back pay.

Chuangying, also called Creative Master, is a Hong Kong-based company located in Hengli Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province.

On Jan. 10, while the workers were still on the job, the company suddenly declared bankruptcy and the owner disappeared. In the morning of Jan. 11, the employees went to the Hengli Town Hall to ask local authorities for help.

Deng, a bystander, told the Epoch Times, “I saw many workers on the street blocking traffic and causing a traffic jam. They went to the town hall carrying banners. They weren’t shouting any slogans. There were police officers keeping order. I could tell that the company was either behind in paying salaries or had filed for bankruptcy. The Chinese New Year is coming and the workers looked very disheartened at not having any money to celebrate the holiday. They marched from about ten in the morning till five in the afternoon.”

An employee who chose to remain anonymous told The Epoch Times that the company still owed them two and a half months of pay and that the owner from Hong Kong had disappeared. A court ordered the factory to be sealed on Jan. 11. More than 1,000 workers in the factory went to the town hall asking the local government to help them retrieve their wages.

According to microblogs the workers and the government officials could not reach an agreement during the meeting. In the morning on Jan. 12, the workers blocked a major traffic artery in Hengli Town. The authorities mobilized hundreds of policemen to disperse the workers. Several of the workers were injured and several were arrested.

It was rumored that to prevent the incident from escalating, the authorities planned to contribute 7 million yuan (US$1.1 million) to pay the workers’ wages temporarily. When The Epoch Times called Hengli Town government inquiring about the incident, a director surnamed Yu from the propaganda department claimed that the officials were meeting to discuss the incident at the time. Yu said that the town government would pay the employees their wages for two months and ten days and would get the money back after the owner was found.

Creative Master was founded in 1986 and was one of the largest manufacturers of fine toy model cars. It was headquartered in Hong Kong and was listed in foreign stock markets. The company once had 10 factories and over 10,000 employees. The global financial crisis quickly reduced it to two factories and approximately 1,000 employees.

Read the original Chinese article.

chinareports@epochtimes.com