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More than a month after Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup, a crackdown on protesters has spiraled into bloody conflict, with more than 200 killed and thousands detained. Foreign businesses, particularly those owned by China, are entangled in the chaos, as protesters target them and their staff in a bid to weaken the economy and punish Beijing over perceptions that it backs the military.

Xiang has seen protesters torching nearby Chinese-run factories like his. Chinese friends have had their compounds broken into and cars set on fire. For the past three days, Xiang and seven other Chinese nationals have hidden in one of his factories in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar district, an industrial zone on the city’s outskirts, surviving on rice and vegetables brought daily by local staff.