Long known as the world s factory, China is the largest manufacturing economy ever seen, accounting for more than 10% of global exports. China is also, of course, home to the largest workforce on the planet, the crucial element behind its staggering economic success. But who are China s workers who keep the machine running, and how is the labor process changing under economic reform?

Pun Ngai, a leading expert in factory labor in China, charts the rise of China as a world workshop and the emergence of a new labor force in the context of the post-socialist transformations of the last three decades. The book analyzes the role of the state and transnational interests in creating a new migrant workforce deprived of many rights and social protection. As China increases its output of high-value, high-tech products, particularly for its own growing domestic market of middle-class consumers, workers are increasingly voicing their discontent through strikes and protest, creating new challenges for the Party-State and the global division of labor.

Blending theory, politics, and real-world examples, this book will be an invaluable guide for upper-level students and non-specialists interested in China s economy and Chinese politics and society.

http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745671748#description

Participants

Prof. Pun Ngai is professor of the Department of Applied Social Science, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  Prof. Pun researches labor politics in contemporary China, gender studies, globalization and cultural politics etc.  She was the first Asian scholar awarded the 2005 C. Wright Mills Award by her publication « Made in China: Women Factory Workers in a Global Workplace« .

Prof. Jack Qiu, Associate professor, School of Journalism and Communications, the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Prof. Travis Kong, Associate professor, Sociology Department, the University of Hong Kong

Dr. Eric Florence, director of the CEFC, chaired the session.

This seminar was held in English
Free Admission