Late last week, outside the gates of a recently closed shoe factory, two migrant workers got into a heated exchange about the rapidly evolving social compact between government and labour in China’s manufacturing heartland.

“I worked here for six years, and others for more than 10. Who is going to compensate us?” asked Xu Miao, who by law is owed one month’s salary for every year he was employed by the Weixu Shoe Factory in Dongguan, a big manufacturing centre in southern Guangdong province. Mr Xu’s boss absconded on November 1, abandoning a 4,000-strong workforce that had not been paid for at least two months and suppliers claiming debts of Rmb100m ($14.7m, €11.3m, £9.3m).