A migrant worker in his 30s attempted suicide at a train station square in south China's Guangdong Province after becoming distraught over money that had been stolen and a weeklong fruitless job hunt.

The suicide scene.

The man, Li Yuqun, was rushed to a nearby hospital after cutting his wrists and is now in stable condition.

Li came from the central Hubei Province one week ago to the coastal Guangdong, the country's key production base and export hub, hoping to find a job. But he failed to find any job because of his lack of work experience.

He said he had almost ran out of his money when he found his remaining funds had been stolen, which became the last straw for him.

"My family members posed great pressure on me," he said. "They told me not to go back home if I cannot find a job in Guangdong."

Chen Xiwen, director of the office of the Central Leading Group on Rural Work, said earlier that about 20 million migrant workers had returned home after losing their jobs as the global financial crisis took a toll on the economy.

A total of 2,452 manufacturing companies had closed or suspended production last year in the southern part of Guangdong because of the world economic and financial downturn.

The province still has more than 70,000 registered factories, whose export and import trade exceeded 417 billion U.S. dollars last year.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2009)