Cai Zhaokai, who works in the foreign trade office under the Chang'an township of Dongguan City in Guangdong Province, has been visiting three or four enterprises a day with his colleagues to learn how local companies are coping with the global financial crisis.

"We are being asked to go to grassroots enterprises as much as possible to learn their difficulties and find out what government can do for them, and give information and suggestions to higher-level authorities," Cai said.

Many local civil servants in the Pearl River Delta are doing the same.

Liu Zhigeng, secretary of the municipal committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Dongguan, said that "we should learn enterprises' difficulties and offer favorable policies accordingly.

"Government should stand together with enterprises in difficult times," Liu said.

Since banks are usually cautious about lending during uncertain times, the Dongguan government is helping companies borrow by providing guarantees.

"And if loans go bad, the government will help banks by bearing50 percent of the loans," said Liu.

Moreover, the Dongguan municipal government has provided 1 billion yuan (about US$143 million) to help develop high-tech enterprises, with similar amounts allocated to help local enterprises restructure and help the unemployed start their own businesses or receive job training.

The past three months have seen a series of stimulus policies launched by the central government, such as interest rate cuts, lower bank reserve requirement ratios, tax changes and higher credit quotas.

The central government also said that 4 trillion yuan would be invested in 10 major aspects, such as low-income housing and rural infrastructure construction, and it reformed value-added taxes.

"The reform of value-added taxes directly benefits us a lot," said Ji Peiquan, deputy general manager of Guangdong Foday Automobile Co., which is located in Foshan City.

Ji said, "As a grassroots enterprise, we really want to know how to directly participate in the central government stimulus package or share the benefit of the package."

Li Yiwei, secretary of the Nanhai District CPC committee in Foshan, said the local government has sent teams to investigate how to help local enterprises participate in the central government's stimulus package or associated programs.

In Shunde district, also in Foshan, the government is planning to build more than 100 km of highway within three years to boost the local economy.

Liu Hai, secretary of the Shunde district CPC committee, said besides expanding infrastructure construction, the local government also provided skills training for unemployed migrant workers. Shunde district is also expanding social welfare insurance and the pension insurance network to provide a stable life for local residents despite global financial turmoil.

In Dongguan City, the government is planning to ask all enterprises to pay into a government reserve fund to guarantee wages if factories close.

"The 30-year-long reform and opening-up drive has not only brought the economic take-off to the Pearl River Delta, but also made the local government more efficient and service-oriented," said Liu Hai. He said that governments are well prepared to play their proper roles in helping companies and workers amid the global financial crisis.

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2008)