Chinese Migrant Workers and Employer Domination: Comparisons with Hong Kong and Vietnam (Series in Asian Labor and Welfare Policies)

This book explores three major changes in the circumstances of the migrant working class in south China over the past three decades, from historical and comparative perspectives. It examines the rise of a male migrant working population in the export industries, a shift in material and social lives of migrant workers, and the emergence of a new non-coercive factory regime in the industries. By conducting on-site fieldwork regarding Hong Kong-invested garment factories in south China, Hong Kong and Vietnam, alongside factory-gate surveys in China and Vietnam, this book examines how and why the circumstances of workers in these localities are dissimilar even when under the same type of factory ownership. In analyzing workers’ lives within and outside factories, and the expansion of global capitalism in East and Southeast Asia, the book contributes to research on production politics and everyday life practice, and an understanding of how global and local forces interact. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi Introduction: Modes of Domination Over Chinese Migrant Industrial Workers (Kaxton Siu)....Pages 1-21 Hong Kong Female Garment Workers and China’s Open Door (Kaxton Siu)....Pages 23-45 Chinese Migrant Workers’ Everyday Lives in the Early 1990s and Late 2000s (Kaxton Siu)....Pages 47-84 State-Endorsed Exploitation and a Segmented Labor Market in Shenzhen’s Garment Industry (Kaxton Siu)....Pages 85-113 Power and Domination in the Chinese Garment Workplace (Kaxton Siu)....Pages 115-153 A Comparative Perspective: Vietnamese Migrant Workers in Ho Chi Minh City (Kaxton Siu)....Pages 155-196 Conclusion (Kaxton Siu)....Pages 197-229 Back Matter ....Pages 231-232