Strolling the production lines of his toy factory in southern China, Peter Lin barks orders as hundreds of workers in green overalls snap wheels onto toy cars and affix tiny batteries into die-cast replica jets.

Twelve months ago Mr Lin could rest easy. Despite the shadow of US toy giant Mattel's massive recall of China-made toys, business was good.

Most of his orders were locked in, and containers full of his toys were steaming for ports in the US and Europe to fill store shelves in time for Christmas.

This year, with over half China's toymakers having gone bust, he's racked with doubt.

"We're carrying a big boulder across a river right now," said Mr Lin, who started his Dongguan factory 12 years ago.

"In January, things may get even more serious. My conservative estimate is that orders will fall between 30 and 40 per cent more," said Mr Lin, whose orders were down 15 per cent this year.

Over the past year or so, China's southern manufacturing hub of Guangdong has taken a flurry of different blows that have devastated their "factory of the world" business model.