The 3,000 mostly male employees at Yingfeng Industrial factory may have only made chemical fertiliser, but they were united in their cause like a family, Liu Fangyong, 36, sitting amid the ruins of a mill, told AFP.

"Most of us have worked here so long -- there was a mutual emotional bond between us," said the exhausted foreman, his blue work overalls coated with dust from days of searching through the rubble for friends and colleagues.

"Even though my heart is empty and I have no energy left, we must make the same efforts for our colleagues as if they were our family," he said.

China's communist revolution gave way to market forces three decades ago, but in small and remote towns like Yinghua little has changed since the days of the "iron rice bowl", when companies catered to workers' every need.

For employees like Liu, Yingfeng, a complex that dominates this otherwise beautiful mountain valley, was more hearth than home -- providing work, housing, food, medical care and entertainment.

Until last Monday's earthquake, which the government estimates has killed more than 50,000 people, it also provided Liu with strong emotional bonds.

"My closest friends were here," said Liu, who said 10 of his friends are still missing.

During his four days off a month, Liu would often opt to stay on the mill's grounds working overtime instead of going home to his wife and 12-year-old daughter who live about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south in Shifang city.

"Obviously, I want to get ahead and save money, but as manager I feel a sense of responsibility," said Liu, who after 15 years with the company was now a technology foreman earning 1,600 yuan (228 dollars) a month.

"Often things need to get done and you can't leave, but I also want to stay," he said, adding that he had always been treated especially well here.

Standing on a hill overlooking the devastation at Yingfeng where so far at least 200 people are known to have died, with dozens still missing, Xie Kai, an official with the firm, estimated that it would take up to five years to rebuild the factory.

Where the money would come from Xie does not know. A man who Xie described as his boss suddenly yelled up: "Hey Xie, tell the foreigner that now we really need investment."

Neither did Xie know how Yingfeng would provide for its workers since the 7.9 earthquake pulverised the complex, making worthless much of its 800 million yuan (114 million dollars) in assets.

It was nevertheless a question far from Liu's mind. "It really does not matter; as long as my belly is fed then I will stay here. However long it takes. I don't plan to leave here," he said.

Jiang Mingdeng, 23, a worker here for three years, echoed Liu's selflessness.

"As long as I'm not hungry I will do whatever needs to be done. And it doesn't matter if I get paid," Jiang said. "I just want to get this place cleaned up as quickly as possible."

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