DONGGUAN, China (AP)

Laid-off migrant worker Chen Li had red scrape marks on his right cheek from a scuffle with riot police outside his factory that went bust this week in southern China.

Now the angry young man is going home early to his village in northern Hubei province for the annual Chinese New Year holiday, where he says he will be bored and idle for a couple of months. It's restless migrants like Chen who are among the biggest worries for Chinese leaders trying to maintain social order during a souring economy.

"I've grown used to living in the city now," said Chen, 25, looking urbane Friday in a new but slightly dusty blue suit. "I just can't stand the country life anymore."

bad news

With the global economic downturn, Christmas export orders were down for Chinese factories, and more bad economic news has followed. In November, growth in China's factory output fell to its lowest level in nearly seven years. More than 7,000 companies in Guangdong closed down or moved elsewhere in the first nine months of the year, the official China Daily newspaper reported.

For workers like Chen, the chances of finding another job are low. This is the slow season, with Christmas orders already shipped off. A new hiring frenzy normally kicks off after the New Year holiday, when migrants flood back to industrial zones in one of the world's biggest annual human migrations.

Until then, authorities will be under pressure to keep a lid on discontent in villages, where many workers may still be simmering over how their jobs came to a bad end.

It has become common in Guangdong for factory owners to suddenly shut down their cash-strapped plants and disappear without paying labourers.

That's what happened at Chen's factory - the Jianrong Suitcase Factory in the city of Dongguan. The plant shut down Tuesday without warning and its 300 workers began taking to the streets, demanding full payment of wages.

On Friday morning, riot police with helmets and shields were called in and sealed off the factory compound, blocking the workers, who live in dormitories inside, from leaving. The plan appeared to be to keep them from protesting outside the factory until they collected their final wages and left for the holiday.

But by noon, about 100 workers got fed up and marched out of the factory. They were led by a short, stocky worker named Dai Houxue, who chanted, "There are no human rights here!" as he pushed away the arm of a policeman who tried to restrain him.

"They have been trying to lock us up in the factory because they don't want us to come out and have the international media cover our protest," Dai said.

The scene challenged the popular stereotype of Chinese migrant workers as being simple country folk, subservient to officialdom and great at "eating bitterness" - enduring hardship without complaint. In fact, for many, factory work is a mind-opening experience that exposes them to protest tactics and concepts like labour rights.

attacked by police

One worker, Yang Xiwei, said police with riot sticks hit her in the stomach when she tried to leave the factory Friday morning to do some shopping.

"We work so hard in this factory and then we get beaten by the police. What kind of system is this?" asked Yang, a mother of two from Hubei.

One of the officers leading the police denied anyone was hit. He declined to give his name.

While about 30 riot police guarded the front gate, the workers boldly shut another gate that led to a courtyard where they gathered. They screamed and yelled when police tried to enter.

Then, catching sight of a plainclothes policeman in a crew cut, khaki pants and black shirt who had slipped inside and was eavesdropping on their conversations, they quickly surrounded him and shouted: "You are not employed here. Leave now!"

Using loudspeakers, officials urged the workers to take their final wages and leave. But the workers refused and remained in the compound, shouting from their dormitory balconies, "We don't want it. You're uncivilised. You beat people."