Stitching small dreams in a big city

Lu Keqin looks at his daughter's picture on his computer in his small manufacturing workshop in Shenzhen, Guangdong, on March 5, 2014.[Cai Muyuan / chinadaily.com.cn]

Lu Keqin, owner of a manufacturing workshop, makes women's clothes in front of a sewing machine. Having lived in Shenzhen for many years, his hometown Jiangsu feels far away to him, both geographically and emotionally.

Lu has seen manufacturing orders decline on the Chinese mainland because the manufacturing hub is moving to Southeast Asia. "The cost of apparel manufacturing in China is too high so we rarely take foreign orders anymore, there's no money in it," he said

Lu owned a big factory two years ago and managed 3,000 workers when the times were good. After losing money for a shipment last year, he decided to close the old factory and open this small workshop. "I don't mind starting from scratch. This is easy to manage and the income is steady," he said.

Lu talks about his daughter with apparent joy on his face. "She's a model for a kid's clothing brand and I'm proud of her," Lu smiles while looking at his daughter's picture, "I want her to go to college and have a good life."

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