The Iron Man weeps: Joblessness and political legitimacy in the Chinese rust belt

State and Society in 21st-century China: Crisis, Contention, and Legitimation

Volumn , Issue , 2004, Pages 67-86

  Weston, Timothy B ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84906129011     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.4324/9780203400302     Document Type: Chapter

References (34)

1. Han Dongfang is quoted in Erik Eckholm, "Leaner factories, fewer workers bring more labor unrest to China," New York Times, 19 March 2002, p. A8.
2. "Paying the price: worker unrest in northeast China," Human Rights Watch 14(6) (C) (August 2002): 29;
3. Roland Lew, "Rebellion in the rust belt," at www.3bh.org.uk/IV/main/IV%20Archive/IV343/IV343%2020.htm. On Maoist asceticism as it pertained to industrial policy
4. see Andrew Walder, Communist Neo-traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry (University of California Press, 1986), Ch. 6. Propaganda art depicting Daqing and Wang Jinxi can be found at www/iisg.nl/~landsberger/dq.html.
5. "Paying the price: worker unrest in northeast China," p. 27.
6. "Liaoyang workers still fighting," China Labour Bulletin, 7 November 2002;
7. Philip P. Pan, "Tactics of Chinese government frustrate labor organizers," Washington Post, 30 December 2002. On a protest gathering that took place as late as June 2003
8. see "Press release: the 'Liaoyang Two': Appeal against 'subversion' charges rejected in a secret hearing," China Labour Bulletin, 27 June 2003.
9. The 55 million figure comes from Hu Angang, a leading economist at Qinghua University. See Liu Weimin, "Stop treating state workers favorably: economist," at www.hxwz.org/CND-Global/CND-Global.02-07-11.html.
10. Phone interview with Han Dongfang conducted on 21 March 2002; Ching Kwan Lee, "Pathways of labor insurgency," in Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden (eds) Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance (Routledge, 2000), pp. 41-61;
11. Martin King Whyte, "The changing role of workers," in Merle Goldman and Roderick MacFarquhar (eds) The Paradox of China's Post-Mao Reforms (Harvard University Press, 1999), pp. 173-196;
12. "Paying the price: worker unrest in northeast China," esp. p. 36.
13. I have written on this issue at greater length in "'Learn from Daqing': more dark clouds for workers in state-owned enterprises," Journal of Contemporary China 11(33) (2002): 721-734.
14. Walder, Communist Neo-traditionalism, pp. 193-194, 226.
15. Tim Pringle, "The Chinese working class," China Rights Forum 1 (2002): 12-21. For recent work that draws attention to worker unrest since 1949
16. see Elizabeth J. Perry, Challenging the Mandate of Heaven: Social Protest and State Power in China (M.E. Sharpe, 2002)
17. Jackie Sheehan, Chinese Workers: A New History (Routledge, 1998).
18. Whyte, "The changing role of workers," pp. 175-177;
19. Lew, "Rebellion in the rust belt"; Pringle, "The Chinese working class," p. 13.
20. "Conversations with a retrenched oil worker in Daqing (1)," China Labour Bulletin, 13 April 2002.
21. Elisabeth Rosenthal, "Workers' plight brings new militancy in China," New York Times, 10 March 2003, p. A8;
22. "Better to die fighting than starving to death!", China Labour Bulletin, 25 September 2002.
23. Todd Crowell and David Hsieh, "Court intrigue," Asiaweek, 11 February 2000.
24. John Gittings, "Workers gagged by Chinese censorship," Guardian, 2 April 2002.
25. On Chinese press coverage of labor problems, see Anita Chan, China's Workers Under Assault: The Exploitation of Labor in a Globalizing Economy (M.E. Sharpe, 2001).
26. Quoted in "Paying the price: worker unrest in northeast China," p. 12.
27. See "Hebei Shengli oilfield workers sue employer over retrenchment," China Labour Bulletin, 6 May 2002, and "Retrenched oil workers in Sichuan get organized for legal action."
28. "Paying the price: worker unrest in northeast China," pp. 35-36.
29. "Paying the price: worker unrest in northeast China," p. 31.
30. "China and the ILO: formalistic cooperation masks rejection of key labor rights," China Rights Forum (Spring 2001).
31. "ICFTU on Daqing oilfield workers' protest," ICFTU OnLine, 15 March 2002.
32. Erik Eckholm, "China accepts U.N. advice to help ease labor strife," New York Times, 20 May 2001.
33. "HRIC and CLB call for immediate release of Yao Fuxin," China Labour Bulletin, 25 November 2002.
34. In the 1990s, the ACFTU's membership declined by nearly a third, from 130 to 90 million. Erik Eckholm, "Workers' rights suffer as China goes capitalist," New York Times, 22 August 2001.