1 The term refers to the poor conditions of waged employment characteristic of migrant workers in China's Sunbelt, which subject labourers to discrimination and exploitation, often resulting in protest actions. See Lee, Ching Kwan, Against the Law: Labor Protests in China's Rustbelt and Sunbelt (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007)Google Scholar.

2 A very useful summary is found in ibid.

3 “Migrant workers take new paths in face of economic depression,” Chinaview.cn, 23 November 2009; “China's government reacts to return of rural migrants,” Rednet.cn, 19 November 2009; “Premier shows concern over jobless migrant workers, encouraging self-employment,” Chinaview.cn, 28 February 2009; “China puts joblessness for migrants at 20 million” New York Times, 4 February 2009; Niu Zhijing, “Laid-off migrant workers test China's fragile social security system,” 1 December 2008, http://www.chinastakes.com/2008/12/laid-off-migrant-workers-test-chinas-fragile-social-security-system.html

4 “China's government reacts to return of rural migrants”; “Laid-off migrant workers test China's fragile social security system”; “UPDATE 1-China says jobs the priority for economic policy,” 10 February 2009, http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/02/10/afx6030425.html; “China focus: economic woes entrench China's migrant workers in hard times,” 2 March 2009, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/02/content_10926847.htm.

5 “Millions of migrant workers are returning to the mainland's industrial hubs not knowing whether they will find a job,” South China Morning Post, 16 February 2009, p. C6; “Firm collapses in the Pearl River Delta after the spring festival threatens social stability – Guangdong shoe factory closure causes road blockage by hundreds of staff,” Hong Kong Economic Times, 17 February 2009, p. A22; Dune Lawrence and Li Yanping, “China lawmakers prioritize welfare as unrest loams,” 4 March 2009, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=a22C71nHLb7Y&refer=asia; “Crisis brings threat of crime wave to China,” 21 February 2009, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iB6ItKi3H7Lwxlf7-1mOL-53A96g.

6 Perry, Elizabeth J., “To rebel is justified: Cultural Revolution influences on contemporary Chinese protest,” in Law, Kam-yee (ed.), Beyond Purge and Holocaust, The Chinese Cultural Revolution Reconsidered (Basingstoke: Palgrave Press, 2003), pp. 262–81Google Scholar; Perry, Elizabeth J., “Studying Chinese politics: farewell to revolution?” The China Journal, No. 57 (2007), pp. 1–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Perry, Elizabeth J., “Chinese conceptions of ‘rights’: from Mencius to Mao – and now,” Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 6, No. 1 (2008), pp. 37–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 In his Government Work Report to the Ninth National People's Congress in March 2002, Premier Zhu Rongji used the concept of ruoshi qunti (vulnerable group) to refer to peasants, off-duty workers, the unemployed and retirees in the context of a society marked by big income diversity. This is the first time the concept was written into a government work report. Previously, Jiang Zemin had referred to the disabled as a vulnerable group in 2000. See Minjie, Zhang, Zhongguo ruoshi qunti yanjiu (China's Vulnerable Groups Studies) (Changchun: Changchun chubanshe, 2003), pp. 4–5Google Scholar. See also Lee, Ching Kwan, Against the Law, p. 28Google Scholar.

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10 Ibid.; for full details of the Sun Zhigang case, see Hand, Keith J., “Using law for a righteous purpose: the Sun Zhigang incident and evolving forms of citizen action in the People's Republic of China,” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 45, No. 1 (2005)Google Scholar, http://www.columbia.edu/cu/jtl/vol 451 files/451hand.html, accessed 20 July 2010.

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29 The research was entitled “Social Protection for Chinese Peasant Workers: Plugging a Policy Vacuum” funded by a Competitive Earmarked Research Grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR Government. The research team was led by Linda Wong of City University of Hong Kong and Zheng Gongcheng of Renmin University. The findings of the survey and a collection of papers on migrant workers are released as a two-volume publication, Gongcheng, Zheng and Ruolian, Huang Li (eds.), Rural-Urban Migrant Workers in China: Issue and Protection (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 2007) (in Chinese, 759 pp.)Google Scholar.

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35 Perry, “Chinese conceptions of ‘rights’.”

36 All the statistical tests were performed by Dr Wanxin Li of City University of Hong Kong. Her professional help is greatly appreciated.

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44 Li, Lianjiang, “Rights consciousness and rules consciousness in contemporary China,” China Journal, No. 64 (2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, manuscript made available by the author.

45 Representative works include Lee's Against the Law, and O'Brien and Li's Rightful Resistance in Rural China.

46 Ching Kwan Lee, Against the Law, pp. 15–16.