As the gap between China’s urban and rural economies continues to expand, the largest rural-urban migration in world history persists. When those from the countryside arrive in the city, the current hukou system blocks their access to the social services that urban residents take for granted. While many join the ranks of China’s “left-behind children” as their parents toil in the city, those who go along often rely on migrant schools for their primary education – while they could attend a public school, the typical fees required far exceed a migrant family’s income.

The democratic election of trade union officials at an electronics factory in Shenzhen in May this year, highlighted in CLB’s last ebulletin, has generated considerable debate among labour scholars in China. In the latest issue of the journal Collective Bargaining Research (集体谈判制度研究), for example, Wang Jiangsong discusses what the election means for China and how best to capitalise on its success. Wang points out that holding democratic elections is only the starting point for the development of fully functioning and representative trade unions, and he outlines the measures needed to create genuine workplace democracy

Zhao Lupo is a hero. The 40-year-old migrant worker from Anhui reportedly saved five people during the devastating rainstorm that hit suburban Beijing last week. But when he went to the local village disaster relief office he was told to get lost because local villagers had priority in the distribution of relief supplies.

The head of the Communist Party in Hunan has told reporters from Hong Kong that an investigation into the suspicious death of veteran labour activist Li Wangyang in early June had concluded that Li took his own life, the South China Morning Post reported today. Zhou Qiang claimed that Li’s family accepted the verdict but this has not been confirmed because his family and their supporters have been threatened by the authorities, kept under house arrest or disappeared soon after their campaign for justice was launched.