Book contents
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Precarious Wage Labour before 1949
- 3 Incipient Socialist Surplus Appropriation, Exclusion, and Decommodification, 1949–1957
- 4 Radical Inclusion and Radical Exclusion, 1958–1965
- 5 Rebellion, Regularization, and Rebounding, 1966–1976
- 6 Restoring Exploitation, Recalibrating Exclusion, and Recommodification since 1977
- 7 Rise of Agency Labour and Regulations for Labour Protection
- 8 Formal and Agency Workers in the 2010s
- 9 Labour Precarity in Historical and Comparative Perspective
- Appendix: List of Interviews
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Rebellion, Regularization, and Rebounding, 1966–1976
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 December 2025
Book contents
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China
- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Precarious Wage Labour before 1949
- 3 Incipient Socialist Surplus Appropriation, Exclusion, and Decommodification, 1949–1957
- 4 Radical Inclusion and Radical Exclusion, 1958–1965
- 5 Rebellion, Regularization, and Rebounding, 1966–1976
- 6 Restoring Exploitation, Recalibrating Exclusion, and Recommodification since 1977
- 7 Rise of Agency Labour and Regulations for Labour Protection
- 8 Formal and Agency Workers in the 2010s
- 9 Labour Precarity in Historical and Comparative Perspective
- Appendix: List of Interviews
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The period 1966–1976 saw the rise and fall of the Cultural Revolution. During this period, China witnessed its third wave of decentralized industrialization and the fiercest protests of temporary workers of the Mao era. This chapter starts by providing an overview of the political, economic, and international circumstances of this decade. It then looks at how workers in different positions in the urban exclusion system, particularly precarious workers, protested to improve their conditions, and how these protests were quashed by the government. This is followed by an examination of how gains won from temporary workers’ protests – most importantly, the largest-scale regularization in the Mao era – were carried out in 1971 and 1972, and why temporary employment rebounded thereafter.
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- The Making of Labour Precarity in China since 1949 , pp. 109 - 131Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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