ABSTRACT
Unemployment has emerged as a serious problem in China in recent years (Yuan 2002). However, the problem is not simply that the magnitude of unemployment has increased; it is also that the category of unemployment has become relevant in China. In other words, the history of unemployment in China is not only a question of numbers, though numbers are important for humanitarian, social and political reasons; it is rather a question of the emergence of a form of society in which unemployment can occur.
