scholarly journals A suicide survivor: the life of a Chinese worker: The life of a Chinese worker

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Chan
Keyword(s):  
Assembly Line ◽  
Attempted Suicide ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Work Organisation ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Labour Process ◽  
Chinese Workers ◽  
Process Work ◽  
Chinese Worker

In 2010, 18 employees working for Foxconn in China attempted suicide. These shocking events focused the world's attention on the manufacturing supply chains of China's export industry and the experience of working within them. What had driven these young, migrant, assembly line workers to commit such a desperate act? This article provides a first-hand account of the experiences of one of those who survived a suicide attempt, 17-year-old Tian Yu. Her personal narrative is embedded within the broader context of labour process, work organisation and managerial practice at Foxconn, the Taiwanese-owned multinational that provides products and components for Apple and others. The factory conditions are further shaped by the company trade union and Chinese government policies. The paper concludes with additional contextualisation indicating the emergence of an alliance of workers, students, scholars and transnational labour movement activists who are campaigning for Chinese workers' rights.

A Turbulent Silk Road: China's Vulnerable Foreign Policy in the Middle East and North Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Andrea Ghiselli ◽  
Pippa Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Security Risks ◽  
Significant Evidence ◽  
Chinese Workers

Abstract The nexus between China's human and economic presence abroad and its security policy is increasingly important. Within this nexus, this study statistically explores whether and to what extent Chinese contractors reduce the number of Chinese nationals they send to work in North Africa, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa when the security situation in host states worsens. We find no significant evidence that either warnings from Chinese embassies and consulates to leave host countries or expert perceptions of host stability influence the number of Chinese workers. Worker numbers appear to decrease significantly only in the aftermath of large-scale violent events. These findings suggest that Chinese companies are relatively acceptant of security risks and uncertainties, despite the decade-long regulatory efforts of the Chinese government to make them more security-conscious overseas and, thus, to reduce pressure to use diplomatically and economically expensive military means for their protection.

scholarly journals Colliery Deputies in the British Coal Industry Before Nationalization

1994 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ackers
Keyword(s):  
Coal Mining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Coal Industry ◽  
National Union ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Labour Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time ◽  
Union History

SummaryThis article challenges the militant and industrial unionist version of British coal mining trade union history, surrounding the Miners' Federation of Great Britain and the National Union of Mineworkers, by considering, for the first time, the case of the colliery deputies' trade union. Their national Federation was formed in 1910, and aimed to represent the three branches of coal mining supervisory management: the deputy (or fireman, or examiner), overman and shotfirer. First, the article discusses the treatment of moderate and craft traditions in British coal mining historiography. Second, it shows how the position of deputy was defined by changes in the underground labour process and the legal regulation of the industry. Third, it traces the history of deputies' union organization up until nationalization in 1947, and the formation of the National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers (NACODS). The article concludes that the deputies represent a mainstream tradition of craft/professional identity and industrial moderation, in both the coal industry and the wider labour movement.

The Factory of the Future? The Contradictory Restructuring of an Assembly Line in France

2020 ◽  
pp. 118-136
Author(s):  
Juan Sebastian Carbonell
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Industrie 4.0 ◽  
Labour Process ◽  
The Future ◽  
Factory Of The Future ◽  
Assembly Operations

This paper studies how the introduction of new technologies and a new organiza-tion of work transforms the labour process at an assembly line of the PSA group in France. The firm presents the new organization as an innovative modernization bringing forward the "Factory of the Future" through concepts directly inspired by Industrie 4.0 and Industrie du futur. At the same time, this modernization also re-sponds to the need for the plant to become more competitive in order to face the consequences of the economic crisis of 2008. Drawing from data obtained through fieldwork (interviews with workers, union representatives and internal documents), the author shows that behind the rhetoric of modernization and industrial excel-lence, the firm intensifies work in assembly operations and workers lose autono-my.

Charting the Course of Uyghur Unrest

2011 ◽  
Vol 208 ◽  
pp. 893-912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin V. Hastings
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Difficult Time ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Central Asian Countries ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Difficult Terrain

AbstractWhat explains the course of Uyghur-related violence in Xinjiang and Central Asia since 1990? Using data derived from a variety of sources, I argue that the locations and types of violent incidents were influenced by a combination of Chinese government policies and the political geography of Xinjiang. Specifically, 1990 to 1996 were dominated by logistically complex incidents in a low-level violent campaign in Xinjiang. The Strike Hard campaign in 1996 brought about an increase in logistically simple incidents in Xinjiang and some violence in Central Asia as Uyghur separatists had trouble moving people, information and weapons across the well-guarded, difficult terrain of Xinjiang's borders. China's rapprochement with Central Asian countries in the late 1990s led after 2001 to a dramatic decrease in Uyghur-related violence in general, but also signalled the appearance of logistically creative attacks that required little planning or materials. My findings suggest that Uyghur rebels will have a difficult time mounting a large-scale violent campaign as long as China retains even minimal control of Xinjiang.

Students of the Imaginary

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-53
Author(s):  
Xin Su ◽  
Neil Harrison ◽  
Robyn Moloney
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Boarding School ◽  
Ethnic Community ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
School Program

This article applies the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan to interpret the experiences and struggles of students who attend Xinjiang classes, a Chinese government-funded ethnic minority boarding school program. The psychoanalytic domains theorized by Lacan are used in this article to argue that the decisions made by Xinjiang class students are subject to the desire of parents and ethnic community customs as much as they are to government policies. Students want to take advantage of their newfound opportunities in Eastern China, but they also want to please their parents and respect ethnic traditions. They oscillate between the desires of others and what they want for themselves, both of which cause them endless uncertainty and anxiety.

Chinese Pride and European Prejudice

Asian Survey ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Peter Gries ◽  
Richard Turcsányi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Spillover Effect ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Substantial Evidence ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
The World ◽  
Europe Today ◽  
Cover Up

The Chinese government’s cover-up of the origins of the new coronavirus, and its more openly prideful and aggressive foreign and human rights policies, triggered a dramatic deterioration of foreign views of China in 2020. That year also witnessed a significant increase in anti-Chinese/Asian prejudice around the world. Could the former have shaped the latter? Drawing on theories of prejudice and ideology, and using an Autumn 2020 13-nation European survey about China, this paper explores whether increasingly negative attitudes toward Chinese government policies prejudiced European views of local Chinese students, tourists, and communities. It finds substantial evidence of a spillover effect, an effect which is stronger among conservative Europeans than among progressive Europeans more motivated to avoid prejudice. The paper concludes with thoughts on the danger that China’s prideful “wolf warriors” pose for Chinese students, tourists, and local Chinese communities confronting prejudice in Europe today.

scholarly journals Mismatching Structures: A New Explanation for the “Unsatisfactory” Labor Conditions in Chinese Mining Companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo

2019 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 1850005
Author(s):  
Duanyong Wang ◽  
Pei Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Labor Conditions ◽  
Mining Companies ◽  
Chinese Workers

Ever since the Minerals-for-Infrastructure Deal valued at $6 billion was signed between Chinese companies and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Government in 2008, there have been criticisms on both the agreement itself and the working conditions for Congolese and Chinese workers in Chinese mineral enterprises in the DRC. Based on our fieldwork in Katanga Province of the DRC and interviews with dozens of local Chinese workers and managers in Chinese-run mining companies as well as staff working at the civil society organizations and governmental departments there, this research tries to investigate the real working conditions in Chinese mining companies. This paper concludes with three points. First, the so-called “wage gap” always asserted by the local workers is rather a phenomenon of employment structure than discrimination. In non-English-speaking African countries, a gap has actually emerged between the insufficiency of local human resources and the lack in localization capabilities of the Chinese multinational enterprises. Second, the compliance dynamics and mechanism of Chinese-run mining companies in the field of labor conditions were driven by local pressure groups including legislation, governments and NGOs, rather than by Chinese government or legislative system. What is interesting is that the rigid discipline of local laws and the abuse of discretion in the process of implementing laws have created a special pressuring structure and resulted in some complex consequences. Third, many Chinese-run mining companies in the DRC have quite different business structures from their branches in China. This is because of their financial investment aims and for the ease of enterprises’ transition. Therefore, it has led to their different perspectives of labor conditions and human resources strategy from mature MNCs. In summary, the research cannot draw a conclusion that the labor conditions are really terrible in Chinese-run mining companies in Katanga Province. However, it reveals that the Chinese government and Chinese enterprises are still not fully prepared for direct investment abroad, although “Going-out” strategy was raised 13 years ago.

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