Netizen Voices: Sardonic Comments on “How to Get Back at Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi” Offer Socio-Political Commentary on China
Ongoing Sino-Japanese diplomatic tensions—touched off last month by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae...
factory workers
Netizens Chastise Chinese State Media for “Mocking Your Own People” in Trade War Responses
The first reaction by China’s state-media apparatus following the escalating U.S.-China trade war last week was to censor online commentary about the scale of tariffs. Now, it has responded with targeted messaging intended to...
Brazil Scrutinizes BYD Labor-Rights Violations, Straining Ties with China
One of Brazil’s most high-profile Chinese investors has become embroiled in a scandal that threatens to upend its presence in the country. Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD was building a factory in Brazil’s...
Photo Essay: “My Hourly Wage”
As the Chinese economy continues to recover from the long pandemic (and post-pandemic) slowdown,...
IM Motors CEO Liu Tao Praises Overwork, Violation of Labor Laws
At an April 8 press conference to unveil IM Motors’ new L6 electric sedan, company CEO Liu Tao enumerated the many sacrifices his workers had made, which suggested to some observers that the company’s punishing schedules were...
Interview: Margaret Hillenbrand on Her Books “On the Edge” (2023) and “Negative Exposures” (2020)
Margaret Hillenbrand, professor of Modern Chinese Literature and Culture at the University of Oxford, joined CDT to discuss her two latest books: “On the Edge: Feeling Precarious in China” (2023) and “Negative Exposures: Knowing...
Museum Dedicated to Migrant Workers to Shut Its Doors
On May 18, a social media post (archived here) announced the impending closure and demolition of a well-known museum dedicated to documenting the lives and improving the welfare of China’s migrant workers. The Museum of Working...
One Decade On, the BRI and Its Media Backers Struggle to “Tell China’s Story Well”
In 2013, Xi Jinping introduced the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and called on state media to “tell China’s story well.” Almost ten years later, the CCP’s external propaganda apparatus is struggling to present a positive image...
Workers Flee Foxconn COVID Outbreak On Foot
An exodus of young workers fleeing a coronavirus outbreak at the Zhengzhou Foxconn factory on foot went viral this past weekend. Zhengzhou, Henan’s capital, has been dealing with a coronavirus outbreak since October 8. More than...
Not Wanted: Recovered COVID-19 Patients Face Job and Housing Discrimination
“Anyone who has ever tested positive is not wanted.” “No tattoos, criminal record, or positive test history.” “Applicants who have tested positive or been in a mandatory quarantine facility need not apply.” “During the pandemic,...
A Brief Timeline of Student Protests in China since 1989
June 4, 2022 marked the 33rd anniversary of Chinese troops opening fire on protesters to suppress the student-led Tiananmen Movement of 1989. In the following decades, student activism in mainland China never ceased, despite...
Interview: Laura Murphy on Forced Labor in Xinjiang
Evidence of human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in Xinjiang has significantly increased over the past five years. As documented by researchers and human rights groups, the Chinese government has subjected...
Translation/Photo Essay: Remains of the Nanzha Leco Stationery Factory
Investigative journalist Peng Yuanwen is known for his reporting at The Beijing News, Vista and ifeng.com, as well as for his witty commentary on Mark Zuckerberg’s notorious 2016 Beijing “smog jog.” But long before that, he...
Translation: Censors Erase Father’s Grief After Shenzhen Factory Suicide
Censors have scrubbed a father’s anguished “plea for help,” written in the aftermath of his son’s suicide, from Chinese social media. His son, a 17-year-old Hubei high school student, committed suicide after being forced to work...
Foxconn Forced Interns to Work Overtime
At The Guardian, Gethin Chamberlain reports that documents leaked to U.S.-based China Labor Watch...
Person of the Week: Yue Xin
CDT is expanding its wiki beyond the Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon to include short biographies of...
Student Activists and China’s Evolving Labor Movement
Labor activist Shen Mengyu has been forcibly detained by authorities in Guangdong after supporting...
Labor Groups Collaborate Amid Growing Strikes
Reuter’s Nandita Bose reports that a Chinese Walmart worker group received strategic advice...
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