Zheng-Xian

Zheng-Xian is a town in provincial China. With a population of around 8,000 people, it is notable only for its relative obscurity, in spite of its population.
Origins
The town supposedly dates back to the late medieval period, and claims have been made that its people are - in part- descended from the people who were cleared from coastal fishing villages after the disaster following the launch of the great Treasure fleets in 1421. This claim has never been proved by either genetic or archeological evidence and it is generally assumed to be false.
Modern standing
The Town once received most of its livelihood from the State-owned shoe-factory once situated in the town, but since the Factory was privatised in March 2002, the poor infrastructure in the province has left it unable to export its goods to markets abroad. This has left the factory highly unprofitable and facing serious problems and it began to close down. By 2006 an additional 2006 workers had been forced into unemployment. Since then the total figure of unemployed has reached nearly 6'000.
A prominent local worker, acting as a spokesman had said that unless serious investment occurred, the factory would close down for good by 2009. As it stands the factory is still operational but with only a skeleton crew of workers.
Despite all that the town enjoys the benefits of a surprisingly productive agricultural zone which -with modern farming technology- could potentially leave it as something of a breadbasket within its province, though this remains unlikely due to its poor location.
 
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