Chinese Politics and Labor Movements

214 Pages·2020·2 MB·English

by  Jake Lin

Jake Lin
Chinese Politics
and Labor
Movements
Politics and Development of Contemporary China
Series Editors
Kevin G. Cai
University of Waterloo
Renison University College
Waterloo, ON, Canada
Pan Guang
Shanghai Center for International Studies
Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences
Shanghai, China
Daniel C. Lynch
School of International Relations
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA, USA
As China’s power grows, the search has begun in earnest for what super-
power status will mean for the People’s Republic of China as a nation as
well as the impact of its new-found influence on the Asia-Pacific region
and the global international order at large. By providing a venue for
exciting and ground-breaking titles, the aim of this series is to explore
the domestic and international implications of China’s rise and transfor-
mation through a number of key areas including politics, development
and foreign policy. The series will also give a strong voice to non-western
perspectives on China’s rise in order to provide a forum that connects
and compares the views of academics from both the east and west reflect-
ing the truly international nature of the discipline.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14541
Jake Lin
Chinese Politics
and Labor Movements
Jake Lin
Institute of Global Studies
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Tokyo, Japan
Politics and Development of Contemporary China
ISBN 978-3-030-23901-5 ISBN 978-3-030-23902-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23902-2
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For grandma
A
cknowledgements
First and foremost, I owe great appreciation to my dissertation advisors.
This study would not have been possible to complete without Xiaoming
Huang’s consistent support and encouragement. I am very grateful to
have Jason Young throughout my graduate studies, whose singular
enthusiasm and insights have made this long journey so very reward-
ing. I would like to thank all the faculty staff at the Political Science and
International Relations programme at Victoria University of Wellington
for providing a friendly and stimulating research environment.
Particularly, thanks to Fiona Barker, Xavier Marquez, Manjeet Pardesi,
Kate Schick, Ben Thirkell-White and Jack Vowles, for their constructive
intellectual contribution to the development of my research. Subject
librarians, especially Justin Cargill, at Victoria University of Wellington
helped me mine new material. I have benefited a great deal from the
opportunity of teaching and tutoring several undergraduate and graduate
courses offered by the programme.
I am grateful to all the institutions that contributed to this research.
The Faculty Research Committee (FGR) Grant at the Victoria University
of Wellington supported my field study trips to China in 2014 and
2015. Thanks go to the Institute of Population and Labour Economics
(IPLE), at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), for their
generosity in hosting my field research in Beijing in 2014. Special
thanks go to Timothy Kerswell at the Department of Government
and Public Administration at the University of Macau for kindly offer-
ing me a visiting fellowship in December 2015. Lizzie Towl at the
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
FGR has been amazing at providing very useful research seminars and
workshops. Special thanks also go to everyone at the Youth Scholars
Forum organized by CASS in Beijing, particularly Wang Meiyian, Liang
Pengling, Cheng Jie, as well as Zhang Yan, editor of Almanac of China’s
Population at the IPLE. I would like to thank a number of labor NGOs,
especially all the front line workers and activists who has contributed to
the study. Thanks to everyone from the New Zealand Contemporary
China Research Centre who work so hard to bring top quality research
activities to New Zealand.
I owe much appreciation to Immanuel Ness at the City University of
New York, editor of Journal of Labor and Society, for his mentorship and
insights into labor studies and Chinese politics from my writing the dis-
sertation through to the book publication. During the time of my post-
doctoral fellowship, I benefited a lot from Yukari Sawada sensei and all
colleagues at the Institute of International Relations, Tokyo University
of Foreign Studies, who gave me a friendly research environment and
substantial support. The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science has
offered generous research funding and support for my research based in
Tokyo.
I am indebted to the many people who have read my works, provided
insightful criticism, challenged my assumptions, and helped improve
the clarity, such as Li Shi and Song Jin at Beijing Normal University,
Anita Chan at the Australian National University, Anne-Marie Brady
at the University of Canterbury, Peter Harris at Victoria University of
Wellington, Stephen Noakes at the University of Auckland, Bo Zhiyue
at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Jonathan Rigg at the Asia
Research Institute, Singapore National University, Peter Franke at the
Forum Arbeitswelten Germany, Sonja Zmerli and all colleagues from the
political psychology IPSA RC29 research group, Craig Matthews, and
several anonymous reviewers and readers. I would like to thank Kevin
Hewison, editor of Journal of Contemporary Asia for allowing this book
(in Chapter 6) to include excerpts from the following article: ‘Precarity,
Cognitive (Non-)Resistance and the Conservative Working Class in
China,’ special issue in 2019. While there are too many to mention, I
would like to thank everyone and every organization that have made this
study possible and enjoyable. Any omissions, inaccuracies, or inconsisten-
cies are my own.
Last but not least, my family deserve special gratitude for their unwa-
vering faith and unconditional support. My father has been an early
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix
inspiration for my curiosity about the world that has made me who I am.
Special thanks go to my sister who took care of my parents when I was
not around. I thank Mark and Andrew for making Wellington feel like
home, and my life full of fun and joy when it was most needed. Thanks
also to all the new friends I made, many of them through hiking and
onsen trips in Japan.
Tokyo
March 2019
c
ontents
1 Introduction: Journey to Resistance 1
2 Chinese Politics and the Decline of Labor 25
3 From Labor Unrest to Social Movement 53
4 Fighting Against What? 83
5 The Fate of the Working Class 111
6 Fragmented Solidarity 139
7 Developing into Obedience? 165
8 Conclusion: Compromise or Complicity? 185
Index 205
xi