China: March 17, 2001

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Workers housing were bombed in the northern city of Shijiazhuang. Some 110 were killed. Police blamed it on a murderer they were seeking. Locals said it was done by workers angry about losing their jobs. There is growing unrest in China as the government is forced to close money losing state enterprises. The communist era firms are unable to compete in the market economy and the government cannot afford to continue subsidizing them. Closing them down has long been avoided because of the unrest that would cause.