1st Edition

The Challenge of Labour in China Strikes and the Changing Labour Regime in Global Factories

By Chris King-chi Chan Copyright 2010
216 Pages
by Routledge

216 Pages
by Routledge

216 Pages
by Routledge

China’s economic success has been founded partly on relatively cheap labour, especially in the export industries. In recent years, however, there has been growing concern about wages and labour standards in China. This book examines how wages are bargained, fought over and determined in China, by exploring how the pattern of labour conflict has changed over time since the 1970s. It focuses in... Read more

1. Introduction: Globalisation and Chinese Migrant Workers  2. Labour Conflict in Shen Zhen: a Historical Review  3. Community and Shop Floor Culture: a Prelude to Workers' Protests  4. Strikes and Changing Power Relations in the Workplace  5. Workplace Conflict, Legal Institution, and Labour Regime  6. International Civil Society, Chinese Trade Unionism, and Workplace Representation  7. Conclusion: Workers' Struggle and the Changing Regime in China

Biography

Chris King-Chi Chan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Social Science at the City University of Hong Kong, and is an active member of labour NGOs in Hong Kong and on mainland China. He gained his PhD at the University of Warwick, UK, and previously worked as a trade union organiser in Hong Kong.

"Chris King-Chi Chan’s book is a particularly well-informed work of scholarship on the process of working-class formation among rural migrant workers in Shenzhen... should prove invaluable both for scholars versed in the study of contemporary China and for those interested in labour politics and urban change in transitional societies." - Eric Florence, Centre for Ethnic and Migration Studies, University of Liege, Belgium; Local Economy, 26(5)

"Why do workers go on strike? How are the strikes organized? How do the strikes affect employers, workers and the government? And what are the implications of the strikes for the future of workers and labour movement in China? In this highly original book, Chris King-Chi Chan answers these questions based on intensive field research in Shenzhen and reveals an emerging picture of ‘class struggle without class organization’ in China. This is a timely and welcome contribution to the field of China labour studies... Chan should be applauded for providing us with valuable insights into workers’ struggles in China. This excellent ethnography study is a must-read for anyone who is interested in Chinese labour issues." - Mingwei Liu, Rutgers University; British Journal of Industrial Relations, 50:1 March 2012

"Chris Chan provides an amazing variety of first-hand information giving detailed insights into the working conditions, discourses and struggles of migrant workers in China’s first Special Economic Zone, Shenzhen." - Günter Schucher, GIGA Institute of Asian Studies, Hamburg; THE CHINA JOURNAL, No. 67

"[T]his book’s rich documentation of a transformative moment in labour relations makes it a valuable addition to the study of labour in China." - Mark W. Frazier; The China Quarterly, 207, September 2011