Dongguan

WANG Zhishen was thrilled when Danish shipper AP Moller-Maersk gave him two months' paid leave, relishing the chance to spend time with his wife and daughters in China's remote Gansu province.

But his euphoria over what he thought was an unexpected bonus quickly turned to despair when Maersk fired him on Jan 3, less than a month after he packed his bags in the southern Chinese manufacturing centre of Dongguan.