The Made in China Journal is a forum that seeks to facilitate critical discussion and engagement with a broad international audience on topics related to labour, civil society, and rights in contemporary China.

Charity Law Passed by the National People’s Congress

On 16 March, the National People’s Congress passed a landmark Charity Law. While the new Law will make it easier for Chinese nonprofit groups to obtain a legal registration and raise funding, it also includes strict regulations to prevent fraud and impose tighter supervision. The legislators introduce tax incentives to encourage enterprises and wealthy people […]

Labour Contract Law under Attack for Harming Flexibility

On 7 March, during the National People’s Congress, Minister of Finance Lou Jiwei criticised China’s Labour Contract Law for harming the flexibility of the labour market, constraining productivity, and harming workers by reducing job opportunities. Lou stated that the Labour Contract Law restricts the ability of companies to fire their employees and is thus discriminatory […]

Chinese Blogger Demands Answers over Funding to Help ‘Left-Behind Children’

Zhou Xiaoyun, a well-known blogger, took legal action against the governments of Bijie city and Guizhou province, demanding that they reveal what happened to a one hundred and eighty million yuan provincial fund established to help ‘left-behind children’ (liushou ertong), a term that generally refers to children currently living in the Chinese countryside without the […]

Grassroots Worker Elected to Top Trade Union Leadership

Ju Xiaolin, a technician and former migrant worker from Shaanxi province, was appointed Vice Chair of the official All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). Ju is the first migrant worker to hold such a high post within the ACFTU. A technician with only a high school diploma, Ju has worked for China CREC Railway Electrification […]

Issue #1

A New Beginning

A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights

January–March 2016

In this first issue, you will find summaries of recent events that have taken place in China, as well as a series of columns on specific topics, such as the recent wave of protests in the Chinese state sector and the expected impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on labour rights. We devote the core of the first issue to the plight of Chinese labour NGOs, contextualising it through a debate between three prominent international labour experts. Finally, we celebrate the award of the prestigious Joseph Levenson Prize to Luigi Tomba, a long-standing researcher of Chinese labour.

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Ningxia Officials Address Migrant Workers’ Back Pay After Bus Attack

On 5 January, Ma Yongping, a migrant construction worker angry about unpaid wages, set a public bus on fire, killing seventeen people in Yinchuan, the capital of the northwestern province of Ningxia. Ma had complained on social media about non-payment of his wages, but his grievances had been ignored by local officials. A government report […]

China Arrests Labour Activists amid Crackdown on Human Rights Defenders

In early January, five Chinese labour activists detained since early December 2015 were formally arrested in Guangdong province. China’s slowing economy has led to a surge in labour disputes and made organised labour a particularly sensitive issue and a target of state repression. Zeng Feiyang, Director of the Panyu Migrant Workers Centre in Guangzhou and […]

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