Asian Labour Update

Since China first commenced with its reform and open policy in 1979, it has undergone a gradual process of economic change, resulting in dramatic transformations domestically for the lives of Chinese people, at the same time that such changes have resulted in China having become a crucial component of the global capitalist economy. As the Chinese government pursued policies which encouraged FDI to begin to pour into China, particularly from the early 1990s, China transformed itself into the ‘world’s factory’ built largely on the exploitation of Chinese migrant labour.