Neoliberalism ‘with Chinese Characteristics’

speculates on the desires of others in the Darwinian struggle for

position. The gender consequences of this have been marked. ‘In

the coastal cities, women encounter the extremes of greater

opportunities to earn unprecedented levels of income and profes-

sional employment, and, on the other hand, relatively low wages in

manufacturing or low-status service sector jobs in restaurants,

domestic service, and prostitution.’

55

The other source for amassing wealth arises out of the super-

exploitation of labour power, particularly of young women

migrants from rural areas. Wage levels in China are extremely low,

and conditions of labour are su

fficiently unregulated, despotic, and

exploitative to put to shame the descriptions that Marx assembled

long ago in his devastating account of factory and domestic labour

conditions in Britain in the early stages of the Industrial Revolu-

tion there. Even more invidious is the non-payment of wages and

pension obligations. Lee reports that,

in the heart of the NE rustbelt, Shenyang, between 1996–2001, 23.1% of

employed workers experienced wage arrears, 26.4% of retirees experi-

enced pension arrears. Nationwide, the total number of workers who

were owed unpaid wages increased from 2.6 million in 1993 to 14 million

in 2000. The problem is not restricted to old and bankrupt industrial

bases with retirees and laid o

ff workers. Government surveys showed

72.5% of the country’s nearly 100 million migrant workers were owed

wages. The total amount of owed pay was estimated to be about $12

billion (or about 100 billion yuan). 70% of these are in the construction

trade.

56

Much of the capital accumulated by private and foreign 

firms

comes from unpaid labour. The result has been the eruption of

fierce labour protests in many areas. While Chinese workers seem

prepared to accept the long hours, the appalling working condi-

tions, and the low wages as part of the price of modernization and

economic growth, the non-payment of wages and of pensions is

something else. Petitions and complaints to the central govern-

ment on this score have mounted in recent years, and the failure of

the government to respond adequately has led to direct action.

57

 In

the north-eastern city of Liaoyang more than 30,000 workers from

some twenty factories protested for several days in 2002 in what

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