In China’s manufacturing hub of Dongguan, a sock factory has survived Sars, the global financial crisis and the US-China trade war, but ‘it can’t survive 2020’.

Wages at Chen Fengying's sock factory in Zhuji, Zhejiang province, have soared almost sixfold in seven years. The 20 per cent increase she expects next year may doom her seven-year-old company as ...