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In this Theory into Practice article we discuss the collective agency of Hong Kong medical workers in COVID-19 in the context of social movement unionism (SMU). In particular, the article utilises Dhatt’s framework defining factors influencing health social movements (2019). We focus on the way the pro-democracy movement underpinned and shaped the five-day strike by 7000 healthcare workers that forced the government to close the Hong Kong–China border in February 2020. We argue that the strike was made possible by the political opportunities linked to collective fear arising from the SARS epidemic in 2003 and to revitalised civil society resulting from the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement in 2019. It illustrates that framing strategies and organisational capacity capitalised on the discursive power and solidarity linked to these political opportunities. However, the failure to achieve demands related to resource redistribution, occupational safety and union rights reflect professionals’ dilemma on fulfilling their duty of care and the limitations of SMU in Hong Kong.

Supplementary Figures S1-S3 from Monochromosome Transfer and Microarray Analysis Identify a Critical Tumor-Suppressive Region Mapping to Chromosome 13q14 and THSD1 in Esophageal Carcinoma

Loss of chromosome 13q regions in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a frequent event. Monochromosome transfer approaches provide direct functional evidence for tumor suppression by chromosome 13 in SLMT-1, an ESCC cell line, and identify critical regions at 13q12.3, 13q14.11, and 13q14.3. Differential gene expression profiles of three tumor-suppressing microcell hybrids (MCH) and their tumorigenic parental SLMT-1 cell line were revealed by competitive hybridization using 19k cDNA oligonucleotide microarrays. Nine candidate 13q14 tumor-suppressor genes (TSG), including RB1, showed down-regulation in SLMT-1, compared with NE1, an immortalized normal esophageal epithelial cell line; their average gene expression was restored in MCHs compared with SLMT-1. Reverse transcription-PCR validated gene expression levels in MCHs and a panel of ESCC cell lines. Results suggest that the tumor-suppressing effect is not attributed to RB1, but instead likely involves thrombospondin type I domain-containing 1 (THSD1), a novel candidate TSG mapping to 13q14. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR detected down-regulation of THSD1 expression in 100% of ESCC and other cancer cell lines. Mechanisms for THSD1 silencing in ESCC involved loss of heterozygosity and promoter hypermethylation, as analyzed by methylation-specific PCR and clonal bisulfite sequencing. Transfection of wild-type THSD1 into SLMT-1 resulted in significant reduction of colony-forming ability, hence providing functional evidence for its growth-suppressive activity. These findings suggest that THSD1 is a good candidate TSG. (Mol Cancer Res 2008;6(4):592–603)

Purpose:Investigation of biological mechanisms underlying genetic alterations in cancer can assist the understanding of etiology and identify the potential prognostic biomarkers.Experimental Design:We performed an integrative genomic analysis for a total of 731 nasopharyngeal carcinoma cases from five independent nasopharyngeal carcinoma cohorts to identify the genetic events associated with clinical outcomes.Results:In addition to the known mutational signatures associated with aging, APOBEC and mismatch repair (MMR), a new signature for homologous recombination deficiency (BRCAness) was discovered in 64 of 216 (29.6%) cases in the discovery set including three cohorts. This signature appeared more frequently in the recurrent and metastatic tumors and significantly correlated with shorter overall survival (OS) in the primary tumors. Independent prognostic value of MMR and BRCAness signatures was revealed by multivariable Cox analysis after adjustment for clinical parameters and stratification by studies. The cases with both signatures had much worse clinical outcome than those without these signatures [hazard ratio (HR), 12.4; P = 0.002]. This correlation was confirmed in the validation set (HR, 8.9; P = 0.003). The BRCAness signature is highly associated with BRCA2 pathogenic germline or somatic alterations (7.8% vs. 0%; P = 0.002). Targeted sequencing results from a prospective nasopharyngeal carcinoma cohort (N = 402) showed that the cases carrying BRCA2 germline rare variants are more likely to have poor OS and progression-free survival.Conclusions:Our study highlights importance of defects of DNA repair machinery in nasopharyngeal carcinoma pathogenesis and their prognostic values for clinical implications. These signatures will be useful for patient stratification to evaluate conventional and new treatment for precision medicine in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Figure S5: Methylation of selected genes between NPC and adjacent non-tumor tissues.

Supplementary Legend

Table S1: Clinical parameters for the HK-3 cohort for targeted sequencing (N=402);Table S2: Sample size estimation and power calculation for study cohorts;Table S3: Mutational signatures and clinical parameters in primary NPC (N=178);Table S4: All the pathogenic germline and somatic alterations at BRCA2 (NM_000059) detected in NPC (N=216);Table S5: Germline and somatic alterations at the selected DNA damage and repair genes in 216 NPC cases for the genes with differential expression and SCNAs in NPC;Table S6: Germline rare variants detected at BRCA2 (NM_000059) in the HK-3 cohort (N=402);Table S7: Association of BRCA2 germline rare variants with clinical parameters in the HK-3 cohort (N=402);Table S8: Differentially methylated CpG sites between signature 3-positive and -negative cases

Workers in the global South are becoming increasingly sensitive to their pension rights. In recent years, rural migrant workers in China have staged a series of protests to fight for pension protection. Drawing from two in-depth case studies conducted in the Pearl River Delta, we explain why workers staged pension strikes, what these protests looked like, how the employers and the government responded, and how these protests differed from previous strikes. Building upon insights from the sociology of collective action and labour process theory, we formulate a new framework for examining labour protests. In addition to seeing workers’ collective action as defensive or offensive, this framework helps us interpret these actions in relation to the spheres of production and reproduction. It classifies pension strikes in China as defensive actions located in the sphere of reproduction, which are distinct from previous strikes that were either defensive or offensive actions situated in the sphere of production. This synthesised framework assists us in theorising that workers’ protest activities, especially in the global South, are not restricted to the traditional production sphere but can also be found in the reproduction sphere.

To tackle internal and external challenges, the Chinese government has made great efforts to promote economic upgrading, but little scholarly attention has been paid to its social consequences. Pre...

While participation in occupying protest is publicly remarkable, its impact on participants’ approval of government, is empirically uncharted. Meanwhile, current research and theory have not been consistent about the impacts of protest participation specifically and civic engagement generally. As the impacts are particularly of concern to college education and democratization, the present study surveyed 527 college students in the Chinese metropolis of Hong Kong to clarify the impacts. Results reveal that both occupying protest participation and civic engagement increase since the participation tended to reduce approval of government substantially. Such reduction reflects competing commitment between government and protest and civic organizations. The results thus show that the participation and engagement represent challenges to government to meet participants’ concerns.

“I want my blood and sweat money back” (Wo yao wode xuehan qian 我要我的血汗錢): these are the words of Liu Jin 劉進, a 47-year-old delivery rider who worked for Ele.me, Alibaba’s food-delivery platform, when he set himself on fire in early January 2021. This tragic event, which sparked heated discussions on the Chinese social media, was preceded by the death of a 22-year-old employee at Pinduoduo, another e-commerce company claiming more than 700 million users in China. As the company announced it wo...

Purpose: Investigation of biological mechanisms underlying genetic alterations in cancer can assist the understanding of etiology and identify the potential prognostic biomarkers. Experimental Design: We performed an integrative genomic analysis for a total of 731 nasopharyngeal carcinoma cases from five independent nasopharyngeal carcinoma cohorts to identify the genetic events associated with clinical outcomes. Results: In addition to the known mutational signatures associated with aging, APOBEC and mismatch repair (MMR), a new signature for homologous recombination deficiency (BRCAness) was discovered in 64 of 216 (29.6%) cases in the discovery set including three cohorts. This signature appeared more frequently in the recurrent and metastatic tumors and significantly correlated with shorter overall survival (OS) in the primary tumors. Independent prognostic value of MMR and BRCAness signatures was revealed by multivariable Cox analysis after adjustment for clinical parameters and stratification by studies. The cases with both signatures had much worse clinical outcome than those without these signatures [hazard ratio (HR), 12.4; P = 0.002]. This correlation was confirmed in the validation set (HR, 8.9; P = 0.003). The BRCAness signature is highly associated with BRCA2 pathogenic germline or somatic alterations (7.8% vs. 0%; P = 0.002). Targeted sequencing results from a prospective nasopharyngeal carcinoma cohort (N = 402) showed that the cases carrying BRCA2 germline rare variants are more likely to have poor OS and progression-free survival. Conclusions: Our study highlights importance of defects of DNA repair machinery in nasopharyngeal carcinoma pathogenesis and their prognostic values for clinical implications. These signatures will be useful for patient stratification to evaluate conventional and new treatment for precision medicine in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Despite pronounced associations of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) regions with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), causal variants underlying NPC pathogenesis remain elusive. Our large-scale comprehensive MHC region deep sequencing study of 5689 Hong Kong Chinese identifies eight independent NPC-associated signals and provides mechanistic insight for disrupted transcription factor binding, altering target gene transcription. Two novel protective variants, rs2517664 (Trs2517664 = 4.6%, P = 6.38 × 10−21) and rs117495548 (Grs117495548 = 3.0%, P = 4.53 × 10−13), map near TRIM31 and TRIM39/TRIM39-RPP21; multiple independent protective signals map near HLA-B including a previously unreported variant, rs2523589 (P = 1.77 × 10−36). The rare HLA-B*07:05 allele (OR, Here the authors report a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) association analysis for nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Chinese individuals from Hong Kong, finding 8 independent associated loci associated with lower risk for developing nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Two non-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes are E3 ubiquitin ligases, TRIM31 and TRIM39, having a role in the innate immune response and implicating the importance of host Epstein-Barr virus interactions in this cancer.

Telomere shortening occurs as an early event in tumorigenesis. The TERT-CLPTM1L locus associates with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) risk. It remains unknown if leukocyte telomere length (LTL) associates with NPC risk and survival. The relative LTL (rLTL) was measured by quantitative-PCR in 2,996 individuals comprised of 1,284 NPC cases and 1712 matched controls. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by logistic regression. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CI were calculated by Cox regression for survival analysis with rLTL and other clinical parameters in 1,243 NPC with a minimum follow-up period of 25 months. NPC patients had significantly shorter telomere length than controls. Shorter rLTL significantly associated with increased NPC risk, when the individuals were dichotomized into long and short telomeres based on median-split rLTL in the control group (OR = 2.317; 95% CI = 1.989-2.700, p = 4.10 × 10-27 ). We observed a significant dose-response association (ptrend = 3.26 × 10-34 ) between rLTL and NPC risk with OR being 3.555 (95% CI = 2.853-4.429) for the individuals in the first quartile (shortest) compared with normal individuals in the fourth quartile (longest). A multivariate Cox regression analysis adjusted by age demonstrated an independent effect of rLTL on NPC survival for late-stage NPC patients, when the individuals were categorized into suboptimal rLTL versus the medium rLTL based on a threshold set from normal (HR = 1.471, 95% CI = 1.056-2.048, p = 0.022). Shorter blood telomeres may be markers for higher susceptibility for NPC risk. Suboptimal rLTL may be a poor prognostic factor for advanced NPC patients, as it associates independently with poor survival.

By analysing the 2013 Hong Kong dockworkers’ strike, this article explores how workers, precariously situated in the world’s freest economy, fight for decent wages with the support of civil society...

Few studies have examined the role of space in social movements. The existing studies have primarily emphasized the physical nature of space (e.g., space as distance) and overlooked other attributes of space, such as space as the materialization of power relations and space as lived experience. In this article, we explore the role of space in social movements based on a case study of the Occupy Central in Hong Kong in 2014. During the protest, the organizers occupied and reconfigured the campuses and mobilized the participants both through and in space. We find that the campus space helped stimulate the feelings and emotions of the students and increased their enthusiasm to participate in the demonstration. The participants were then sent from the campuses (mobilization spaces) to the demonstration spaces where they occupied and transformed the urban public spaces into private spaces, thus leading to contention over and of space with the state powers. Our findings reveal that the campus space is an important resource that organizers can use for mobilization. We also find that the special features of a campus, including aggregation, networks, isolation, and homogeneity, can facilitate the formation of social movements. We argue that the three attributes of space interact with one another in facilitating the social movement. Thus, our findings suggest that space acts as not only the vessel of struggle but also a useful tool and a target of struggle.

This study looks at trans-border, anti-sweatshop campaigns and the transformation of cross-border activism between Hong Kong and mainland China. Examining two cases, it demonstrates the mechanism and processes of trans-border, anti-sweatshop campaigns and networks involving non-governmental agencies, student groups and workers. The study suggests that anti-sweatshop activism has been conductive and transferrable from Hong Kong to China in a way that has mobilised local civil society power, cultivated mainland activists and nurtured localised pro-labour activism. With Hong Kong activists acting as movement conveyers and mainland activists acting as adapters, anti-sweatshop activism has evolved. Once centred on marketplaces and consumers, it is now centred on production sites, and has moved domestic actors (including workers, students, scholars, media and consumers) from the margins to the centre. Anti-sweatshop activism has moulded itself to local contexts by rebuilding its strategies and tactics w...

Background Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an important cancer in Hong Kong. We aim to utilise liquid biopsies for serial monitoring of disseminated NPC in patients to compare with PET-CT imaging in detection of minimal residual disease. Method Prospective serial monitoring of liquid biopsies was performed for 21 metastatic patients. Circulating tumour cell (CTC) enrichment and characterisation was performed using a sized-based microfluidics CTC chip, enumerating by immunofluorescence staining, and using target-capture sequencing to determine blood mutation load. PET-CT scans were used to monitor NPC patients throughout their treatment according to EORTC guidelines. Results The longitudinal molecular analysis of CTCs by enumeration or NGS mutational profiling findings provide supplementary information to the plasma EBV assay for disease progression for good responders. Strikingly, post-treatment CTC findings detected positive findings in 75% (6/8) of metastatic NPC patients showing complete response by imaging, thereby demonstrating more sensitive CTC detection of minimal residual disease. Positive baseline, post-treatment CTC, and longitudinal change of CTCs significantly associated with poorer progression-free survival by the Kaplan–Meier analysis. Conclusions We show the potential usefulness of application of serial analysis in metastatic NPC of liquid biopsy CTCs, as a novel more sensitive biomarker for minimal residual disease, when compared with imaging.

This article finds both the ‘weakening-state’ hypothesis of neo-liberalism and the ‘state as autonomous actor’ approach adopted by many current China studies dissatisfying towards an understanding of the Chinese state. The authors have therefore conducted a Marxian investigation of the Chinese state. We argue that the state is socially embedded; it is the field and condensation of class struggle. The gulf separating global capital and internal migrant workers on interests such as wage standards, pensions, and other labour regulations in China is a major form of class struggle, which continues to shape the state’s policies and behaviours. The attack on Chinese workers by global capital after the global economic crisis in 2008 precipitated a new wave of migrant worker protests and contributed to their articulation of worker demands on the Chinese state. To substantiate these arguments, we examine the (global) capital and (migrant) labour relations during and after the global economic crisis in 2008,...

Through an investigation of the Shenzhen Collective Consultation Ordinance and the Guangdong Regulations on the Democratic Management of Enterprises, this article demonstrates how transnational capital in China deploys its associational power alongside its structural economic power to lobby and pressure the national and local governments to advance its own interests. In addition, building upon the ideas of Hall and Soskice about the varieties of capitalism, the authors have developed the concept of “varieties of transnational capital” to account for the differing positions of overseas business associations regarding the two laws. We find that these positions are shaped by two determining factors: a) where the associations are situated in global production chains, and b) the industrial relations model in their home countries.

This study presents the case study of a collective action against a proposed industrial waste-water disposal project in the city of Qidong, Jiangsu province in 2012 to explore the role of collective identity in the formation and mobilisation of environmental protests in contemporary China. It is suggested that collective identity articulated through protest is not just a static property of a certain group of people based on their history, culture and locality. Collective identity also works as a flexible framing strategy that can be pragmatically constructed or reconstructed by the discontents, as it interacts with the specific political context in the process of mobilisation.

Background: Investigation of biological mechanisms underlying genetic alterations in cancer can assist the understanding of the inter-patient heterogeneity and identify new therapeutic targets. Although multiple genomic studies have been carried out in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), the detailed mechanisms underlying these genetic alterations and NPC pathogenesis remain unclear. Aims: We aim to identify the additional genetic events driving tumorigenesis by increasing the statistical power to distinguish the infrequent driver events from passengers, gain insights in the mechanisms underlying genetic alterations and evaluate their prognostic value for overall survival. Our ultimate goal is to identify potential new therapeutic targets for NPC treatment. Methods: We performed an integrative genomic and transcriptomic analysis for a total of 216 NPC cases from three genomics studies to catalogue the somatic mutational signatures, somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) and gene expression changes in NPC. Results: Three clusters with distinct SCNA patterns were uncovered. Cluster 1 (SCNA-L-gain), accounting for 66.7% of total cases, has consistent CN loss in chromosomes 3, 14 and 16, which are typical SCNAs in NPC; Cluster 2 (SCNA-M-gain, 8.2%) is characterized as a moderate level of CN gain involved in selected chromosomes 17, 19 and 22. Strikingly, Cluster 3 (SCNA-H-gain, 25.1%) has extensive CN gains across the genome with regional loss near telomeres in several chromosomes. Noticeably, a new mutational signature relevant to the deficiency of the homologous recombination (HR) repair pathway (BRCAness) was discovered in a subset of NPC cases (29.6%). The survival analysis indicates that this mutational signature is significantly associated with shorter overall survival after adjustment for stage, gender and age and stratification by studies (P=0.018, HR=2.2, 95% CI 1.1-4.4). All the cases harboring the pathogenic BRCA2 germline and somatic mutations carry this mutational signature, but only account for 7.8% of such cases. A strong BRCAness signature is more frequently found in the SCNA-H-gain cluster (P=0.012), indicating HR deficiency may play a role for genomic instability in this subset of NPC patients. Conclusions: In NPC, there is a molecular subtype with extensively high copy number gain and a strong BRCAness signature. Discovery of this molecular subtype supports prospective clinical trials investigating agents, such as PARP inhibitor, to target this subset of patients. Acknowledgements: This study was funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council grant (AoE/M-06/08) to MLL Citation Format: Wei Dai, Dittman Lai-Shun Chung, Larry Ka-Yue Chow, Merrin Man-Long Leong, Candy King-Chi Chan, Josephine Mun-Yee Ko, Maria Li Lung. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma molecular subgroups for somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 4734.

Telomere shortening occurs as an early event in tumorigenesis. The TERT-CLPTM1L locus associates with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) risk. It remains unknown if leukocyte telomere length (LTL) associates with NPC risk and survival. The relative LTL (rLTL) was measured by quantitative-PCR in 2,996 individuals comprised of 1,284 NPC cases and 1712 matched controls. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by logistic regression. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CI were calculated by Cox regression for survival analysis with rLTL and other clinical parameters in 1,243 NPC with a minimum follow-up period of 25 months. NPC patients had significantly shorter telomere length than controls. Shorter rLTL significantly associated with increased NPC risk, when the individuals were dichotomized into long and short telomeres based on median-split rLTL in the control group (OR = 2.317; 95% CI = 1.989-2.700, p = 4.10 × 10

The Wnt signaling pathway is known to serve an important role in the control of cell migration. The present study analyzed the mechanisms underlying the in vitro modulation of the migration of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells by the CREB‑binding protein/catenin antagonist and Wnt modulator ICG‑001. The results revealed that ICG‑001‑mediated inhibition of tumor cell migration involved downregulated mRNA and protein expression of the Wnt target gene cluster of differentiation (CD)44. It was also demonstrated that ICG‑001 downregulated the expression of CD44, and this effect was accompanied by restored expression of microRNA (miRNA)‑150 in various NPC cell lines. Using a CD44 3'‑untranslated region luciferase reporter assay, miR‑150 was confirmed to be a novel CD44‑targeting miRNA, which could directly target CD44 and subsequently regulate the migration of NPC cells. The present study provides further insight into the inhibition of tumor cell migration through the modulation of miRNA expression by the Wnt modulator ICG‑001.

This chapter reviews the development of management, industrial conflicts and trade unionism in China since the reform, within a changing political and economic context. The authors suggest that the Chinese government’s effort to integrate the country into the global economy since 1978 and its strategies to rebalance the economy since the global recession in 2008 have defined the development of employment relations (ER) in the country. Apart from structural and institutional factors, workers’ agency is another driving force for the historical change. As a result, although the Chinese tradition and socialist legacy have continued to take effect in the workplace, changes have taken place in different areas, such as the promotion of wage collective bargaining and trade union direct election in some regions and enterprises. The changing political economy has given rise to the decentralisation and hybridisation of ER in China.

Resume La puissance economique de la Chine repose sur son industrie manufacturiere, forte d'une main-d'œuvre disciplinee et qualifiee mais peu remuneree. Face a une agitation sociale croissante, l'Etat a pris des initiatives pour reglementer et ameliorer les conditions d'emploi. Les coordinateurs de ce numero special de la Revue internationale du Travail replacent ici les contributions qui le composent dans le contexte des debats sur la reglementation du travail dans la production mondiale – notamment reglementation non contraignante par opposition a reglementation contraignante – et sur l'evolution du marche du travail, des normes du travail et des relations professionnelles en Chine. Ils concluent par des suggestions de recherches a venir.

La fuerza economica mundial de China reside en su capacidad manufacturera, gracias a una mano de obra disciplinada y calificada, cuya remuneracion es, sin embargo, relativamente baja. Esto explica tanto los crecientes conflictos laborales como las iniciativas normativas estatales en respuesta. En la presente introduccion, los coordinadores de este numero monografico contextualizan los demas articulos respecto de los debates generales sobre reglamentacion laboral de la produccion mundial –concretamente sobre la regulacion vinculante y no vinculante–, y de la evolucion del mercado de trabajo, la reglamentacion laboral, las condiciones de trabajo y las relaciones laborales en China en el ultimo decenio. Concluyen con propuestas para futuras investigaciones.

In 2010, labour protests spread across China, sparked by the Honda workers' strike. Hoping to pacify the aggrieved workers, the Shenzhen and Guangdong governments resumed discussion of the suspended draft Shenzhen Collective Consultation Ordinance and the Guangdong Regulations on the Democratic Management of Enterprises. However, following strong opposition from foreign chambers of commerce, discussion was once again suspended. The authors show that two factors determine how foreign chambers of commerce and government agencies influence labour legislation in southern China: the position in global production chains of the firms they represent, and the relevant industrial relations model.

Resume En 2010, un mouvement de protestations sociales a traverse la Chine. Afin de ramener le calme, les autorites de Shenzhen et du Guangdong ont repris les discussions sur leurs projets respectifs d'Ordonnance sur la consultation collective et de Reglementation sur la gestion democratique des entreprises, pour les suspendre a nouveau face a la forte opposition des chambres de commerce etrangeres. Les auteurs montrent comment les representations etrangeres, economiques ou diplomatiques, influencent la legislation du travail en Chine meridionale. Deux facteurs sont determinants: la position de leurs entreprises dans les chaines mondiales de production et leurs modeles nationaux de relations professionnelles.

Many Western scholars have regarded union democracy and elections as affairs that are internal to trade unions and unconnected with outside forces. Going beyond the mainstream union-centred approach, this study critically assesses one significant type of union election that has been emerging in China since 2010 and that has been driven by different forces from previous elections. Previous workplace union elections had been ‘top-down’ — initiated by the party-state or its apparatuses, or else transnational corporation-induced — but this newer type of election has been driven by workers' strikes. This study illustrates how the dynamics among the quadripartite actors — party-state, higher-level trade unions, capital and labour — have shaped these strike-driven elections. Contrary to the claim that these elections have been ‘direct’ and ‘democratic’, our case studies show that they have been indirect and quasi-democratic in nature.

En 2010, tras la huelga en Honda, hubo protestas laborales en toda China. Los gobiernos de Shenzhen y Guangdong reaccionaron desempolvando los proyectos de Decreto sobre consulta colectiva y de Normativa sobre gestion democratica de las empresas, retirados con anterioridad. Pero tras la oposicion frontal de camaras de comercio y organismos gubernamentales extranjeros, hongkoneses y taiwaneses, volvieron a retirarse. Mediante entrevistas, los autores revelan los medios de influencia en la legislacion laboral china de estos actores, cuyas actitudes dependen de la posicion de las empresas representadas en las cadenas mundiales de produccion y del modelo de relaciones laborales de su pais o territorio de origen.

Using the concept of ‘constrained agency’ introduced by Neil Coe and David Jordhus-Lier, this article attempts to evaluate the possibilities and constraints facing labour agency in the Pearl River Delta in China. By reviewing the social, economic and political background of the changing labour market and labour regulations in China, and through an intensive case study of a workers’ strike and its consequences, the author argues that Chinese migrant workers have begun to challenge the state's regulatory regime on labour, which is based on individual rights. However, the introduction of a regulatory framework based on collective rights is being impeded by the party-state's manipulation of trade unions and the strong influence of global capital on local labour policy.

2010 was a turbulent year for labour relations in China. The wave of strikes sparked by the Honda workers has highlighted the urgent need for trade union reform and workplace collective bargaining. In response to this turbulence, the Chinese government has stepped up efforts to promote the practice of collective bargaining, which had been neglected under the existing “individual rights-based” labour regulatory framework. In the midst of rapid social and policy changes, this article aims to examine the effect of labour strikes on the development of collective bargaining in China. The authors argue that, driven by growing labour protests, the collective negotiation process in China is undergoing a transition, from “collective consultation as a formality,” through a stage of “collective bargaining by riot,” and towards “party state-led collective bargaining.” This transition, however, is unlikely to reach the stage of “worker-led collective bargaining” in the near future.