China may be famous as the workshop of the world, but one Hong Kong lingerie- maker has found Thailand a more alluring destination, as companies shift production to cheaper countries.

　　或許中國是遠近聞名的世界工廠，但隨著制造業企業將生產線向成本更低廉的國家轉移，一家香港內衣制造商發現泰國更具吸引力。

　　Top Form International, which supplies companies such as Walmart from its south China factories, has been forced to face a new reality in China as workers demand higher wages.

　　黛麗斯國際有限公司(Top Form International)一直從該公司位于華南的工廠向沃爾瑪(Walmart)等公司供貨，但隨著工人對工資的要求越來越高，這家公司開始被迫面對中國的新現實。

　　Sitting in his Hong Kong office across the border from Guangdong province, Michael Austin, Top Form’s chief financial officer, says the company is seeing wage increases of 20 percent every year. “China’s policy is double wages in five years. We expect it to be shorter than that.”

　　黛麗斯首席財務官邁克爾?奧斯汀(Michael Austin)坐在與廣東省一界之隔的香港辦公室里說道，公司發現工資每年都要上漲20%。“中國的政策是五年內工資翻番，我們估計速度會比那更快。”

　　After the minimum wage in Shenzhen, the special economic zone just across the border from Hong Kong, was raised from Rmb1,100 ($172) to Rmb1,320 in April, the company speeded up plans to reduce its sewing workforce to 400, down from 1,000 a few years ago. The Chinese government also increased manufacturing wages nationwide following a series of suicides at the electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn.

　　毗鄰香港的經濟特區深圳今年4月份將最低工資從1100元人民幣（合172美元）提高到1320元，隨后這家公司便加速了裁減縫紉工的計劃，從幾年前的1000人壓縮至400人。電子產品代工制造商富士康(Foxconn)發生連環自殺事件后，中國政府也在全國范圍內提高了制造業工資。

　　Top Form’s bigger challenge, however, is China’s demographic change. The cohort of young workers entering the workforce is declining every year. Selective female foetus abortions because of a one-child policy and preference for boys has also created the perverse effect of fewer women working in factories. Owners in southern China report the ratio of factory workers is 60:40 male to female whereas it used to be predominantly female.

　　然而黛麗斯面臨的更大挑戰是中國人口結構的變化。每年加入勞動力大軍的年輕工人越來越少。由于獨生子女政策以及對男孩的普遍偏好，而將女性胎兒選擇性墮胎的做法，產生了一個反常的現象——工廠中的女工越來越少。華南地區的企業主報告說，現在工廠工人的男女比例為60:40，而過去女性曾占據主導。

　　Last week, the UBS economist Jonathan Anderson released a report after crunching import data from the US and European Union for the first half of 2011. He found China’s light-manufacturing share is starting to decline from above 50 percent to about 48 percent. Beneficiaries include Bangladesh (up 19 percent in exports to the US) and Vietnam (16 percent).

　　上周，瑞銀(UBS)經濟學家喬納森·安德森(Jonathan Anderson)分析計算了2011年上半年美國和歐盟的進口數據后，發布了一份報告。他發現中國輕工制造業的份額開始下滑，從曾經的50%強減少到了48%。而受益者包括孟加拉國（對美國出口增加了19%）和越南（16%）。

　　The first half of 2011 “looks a pretty convincing turning point”, says Mr Anderson of a shift in labour-intensive manufacturing to south-east Asia. India and the Philippines, by contrast, which should be “natural destinations” for labour-intensive investment appear to be sitting out the action, he says.

　　安德森談及勞動密集型制造業向東南亞轉移時說，2011年上半年“似乎是一個很令人信服的轉折點”。他表示，與此形成反差的是，本應成為勞動密集型投資“天然目的地”的印度和菲律賓，在這個過程中卻成了旁觀者。

　　For Guangdong, China’s most industrialised and wealthiest province, this migration of low-paying jobs is what provincial leaders have been advocating for a couple of years. The province lowered its growth rate target to 8 percent annually for the current five-year plan that runs from 2011-2015. The province’s governor, Huang Huahua, and the party secretary of Guangdong, Wang Yang, have repeatedly stressed the need for polluting industries to move out in favour of more technology-intensive industries.

　　對于中國工業化程度最高也最富裕的省份廣東省而言，這種低收入工作崗位的遷出正好符合省政府領導多年來的倡議。廣東省在十二五規劃中，將經濟增長目標降低到了每年8%。廣東省省長黃華華、省委書記汪洋曾反復強調必須將污染產業遷出，加強技術密集型產業的發展。

　　Michael Enright, a professor of business at the University of Hong Kong, says this may be the first time in history when a government has actively sought to turn its back on its early industrial past. This is broadly Beijing’s goal as well, but it is harder to do at national level because the workforce in interior provinces is not as skilled as in Guangdong.

　　香港大學(University of Hong Kong)商學院教授邁克爾?恩萊特(Michael Enright)表示，一省政府積極尋求告別早期工業發展方式，這可能是歷史上的第一次。中國政府的目標也大體相同，但要在全國層面實現這種轉變更加困難，因為內陸省份的工人不像廣東省的工人那樣技術熟練。

　　For an insight into how quickly manufacturing of low-end apparel and footwear is starting to move from southern China, half-yearly financial results from the global sourcing company Li & Fung also provided an indicator last month. Li & Fung sources everything from T-shirts and anoraks to furniture and beauty products for western retailers such Walmart Stores and Toys R Us.

　　要深入了解服裝和鞋類等低端制造業在以多快的速度撤離華南地區，全球采購企業利豐(Li & Fung)上月發布的半年財報也提供了指引。利豐為沃爾瑪和玩具反斗城(Toys R Us)等西方零售商采購商品，涵蓋從T恤和風帽夾克到家具和美容用品等各種類別。

　　The company’s chief executive, Bruce Rockowitz, unveiled a set of numbers that in effect heralded a new world order in clothing, furniture and footwear manufacturing. Sourcing from Bangladesh by the US$16bn behemoth had risen by as much as 52% while Turkey and Indonesia had experienced increases of 20 percent or more.

　　利豐首席執行官樂裕民(Bruce Rockowitz)披露的一組數據，實際上預示了服裝、家具和鞋類制造業將迎來全新的世界秩序。這家市值高達160億美元的企業在孟加拉國的采購額增長了52%，同時來自土耳其和印尼的采購也增加了20%或更多。

　　Roland Lee, in an attempt to ensure his company, Hilford, stays profitable in the competitive business of making jeans, has reduced order sizes that Hilford takes on to about 2,000 pieces. He has also moved upmarket by increasing customisation for clients such as Armani Exchange. Rising cotton prices of more than 100 percent last year coupled with wage increases has prompted competitors to move production to India, he reports.

　　李京璞(Roland Lee)擁有一家生產牛仔服裝的公司熙福制衣(Hilford)。為了讓公司在激烈的競爭中保持盈利，他將承接的訂單規模削減到2000件左右。他還轉戰高端市場，增加了為Armani Exchange等客戶定制產品的業務。李京璞表示，去年棉花價格上漲一倍多，加上工人薪資上漲，已經促使競爭對手將工廠搬到了印度。

　　The high reject rate on apparel from India makes him wary, however. Mr Lee continues to manufacture out of Shenzhen, which also boasts 24-hour customs clearance at its border with Hong Kong.

　　然而，印度生產服裝的高廢品率讓他有些警惕。李京璞仍然將生產放在深圳，這里與香港之間有24小時直達關口。

　　Similarly, for Top Form expensive lingerie and bras will continue to be made at Nanhai in Guangdong because of higher workforce productivity. Many suppliers are also clustered nearby, in an area nicknamed Bra City.

　　同樣，黛麗斯將繼續在廣東南海市生產高端內衣和胸罩，因為這里的工人生產率更高。在這個綽號“內衣之都”的地區，周圍聚集著許多供應商。

　　China’s increasingly first- world infrastructure, higher productivity and huge size mean it will continue to have a commanding share of manufacturing for jeans, clothes and toys as Li & Fung’s presentation last month revealed. The volume of production by the company’s suppliers in China grew by 30 percent in the first half of this year with more suppliers moving to lower-cost interior provinces. Mr Rockowitz quips that the answer to “what next“ in global manufacturing – is China.

　　中國日漸接近世界水平的基礎設施、更高的生產率和巨大的人口規模意味著它將繼續在牛仔服、服裝和玩具制造業占據遙遙領先的份額，正如利豐上月公告所揭示的那樣。今年上半年利豐在華供應商的生產規模增長了30%，同時有更多供應商轉移到了成本更低的內陸省份。樂裕民調侃道，要問全球制造業的“下一個目的地”在哪里，答案還是中國。