Introduction: Modes of Domination Over Chinese Migrant Industrial Workers

This chapter introduces readers to the overarching themes of the book, including the primary goals that the book seeks to address and what I hope readers will take away from reading it. I open the book by focusing on the subjugation model in the studies of Chinese migrant workers and its limitations when examining workers’ everyday life practices outside factory dormitories. I will argue that in order to explore changing modes of domination over Chinese migrant workers over recent decades, it is necessary to adopt a conceptual framework that sees laborers’ work and leisure hours as a unity. Then, I briefly describe the methodology employed in this study.