Women Migrant Workers in Chinas Economic Reform International Political Economy Series

Women Migrant Workers in China's Economic Reform studies unmarried women migrant workers in China. As international migrants in China's richest province, they work in silk, one of China's oldest and most symbolically-charged industries. Through extensive interviews and a wide-ranging interpretation of the secondary literature, this book brings an interdisciplinary approach to its study of power and identity. Gender, class, and local identities matter in the factories and streets of a one-industry town, and municipal and factory leaders seek to rework these over-shifting forces to build a low-cost, reliable labour force. The women in question seek to rework these disadvantages by the same forces, have other aspirations! "Women Migrant Workers in China's Economic Reform introduces the reader to an intriguing micocosm of China's recent economic reform. Written from the perspective of unmarried young women from a stigmatized region of one of China's wealthiest provinces, it shows how China's spectacular growth, centred in the coastal cities, has affected modern workers in silk production, one of the country's oldest and most legendary industries. Equally important, the book's ethnographic work shows how these workers carve out a niche for themselves in these challenging circumstances."--Jacket Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction....Pages 1-32 The ‘Strategic Silence’ and ‘Tactical Noise’ in Economic Reform....Pages 33-57 ‘Emergent Classes’ and Sicheng Society....Pages 58-101 Building Material and Spiritual Civilization in Sicheng....Pages 102-128 New Factory Women in Time and Space....Pages 129-153 A Close Watch in a Tight Space: Multiple Foci of Labour Control....Pages 154-179 Identities of Women Migrant Workers: The Intersection of Gender, Class and Place of Origin....Pages 180-198 Conclusion....Pages 199-204 Back Matter....Pages 205-239 Feng Xu. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 223-233) And Index.