Chinese Workers in Comparative Perspective

Anita Chan is a Research Professor at the Australia-China Relations Institute of the University of Technology, Sydney, and a visiting fellow at the Australian National University. She is the editor of Walmart in China, also from Cornell, the author of China's Workers under Assault: The Exploitation of Labor in a Globalizing Economy, and has published seven other books.

• Introduction: The Fallacy of Chinese Exceptionalismby Anita ChanPart I. Historical and Structural Developments1. Exporting Corporatism? German and Japanese Transnationals' Regimes of Production in Chinaby Boy Lüthje2. Globalization and Labor in China and the United States: Convergence and Divergenceby Mingwei Liu, Frederick Scott Bentley, Mary Huong Thi Evans, and Susan J. SchurmanPart II. Labor Standards3. Recomposing Chinese Migrant and State-Sector Workersby Kevin Lin4. Industrial Upgrading and Work: The Impact of Industrial Transformation on Labor in Guangdong's Garment and IT Industriesby Florian Butollo5. The Working and Living Conditions of Garment Workers in China and Vietnam: A Comparative Studyby Kaxton Siu6. Race to the Bottom: The Soccer Ball Industry in China, Pakistan, and Indiaby Anita Chan, Hong Xue, Peter Lund-Thomsen, Khalid Nadvi, and Navjote KharaPart III. Trade Unions, Collective Bargaining, and the Right to Strike7. Labor NGOs under State Corporatism: Comparing China since the 1990s with Taiwan in the 1980sby Chris King-chi Chan and Yu-bin Chiu8. One Step Forward: Collective Bargaining Experiments in Vietnam and Chinaby Katie Quan9. Creating a Right to Strike in China: Some Lessons from the Australian Experienceby Thomas Nice and Sean Cooney10. Trade Union Reform in Russia and China: Harmony, Partnership, and Power from Belowby Tim PringleNotesContributorsIndex

Most academic research about the working conditions of Chinese factory workers has been focused on China itself, with little or no reference and comparison to workers and working conditions in other countries. However, this new book edited by Chan (China Research Center, Univ. of Technology, Sydney, Australia) attempts to convince readers that China is not exceptional and that it is critical to use a comparative perspective as an analytical tool to explain Chinas labor conditions.- R.M. Ramazani (Choice)