ABSTRACT
The Chinese economy has enjoyed unprecedented growth rates averaging around 10 per cent over the last three decades. By 2005 it had become the world’s fourth largest economy, ousting the UK from this position. It is a significant trading partner of Europe, Japan and the US, has absorbed over US$ 60.3 billion in foreigndirect investment1 andhas becomeamajor consumer of theworld’smineral resources. Its rapid growth has also contributed to a sharp decrease in the numbers of people living in abject poverty, official figures claiming a fall from 250 million to 26 million people between 1978 and 2004.2 While China’s economic miracle owesmuch to both state strategy and the gradual unleashing ofmarket forces, it also rests on the industry and toil of millions of rural migrant workers who leave less lucrative rural areas in search of employment opportunities in the more prosperous urban heartlands. Without this army of relatively cheap labour that endures long hours and often arduous conditions of work, China’s economic miracle could not have happened.
