ABSTRACT
Translated as “sensitive” in English, mingan (敏感) is an important term that permeates in Chinese political life and is well illustrative of the uncertain conditions that labor NGOs have to maneuver. This chapter focuses on the idea of mingan and discusses the local understanding and usage of the concept, which is not only used as a guiding principle in the day-to-day work of labor NGOs but is also a constitutive part of the uncertainty of the political environment. Mingan is discussed as a productive concept whereby impressions can be managed and resources can be mobilized. Ethnographically, the chapter focuses particularly on a workshop in Beijing in 2013 in which the labor NGOs tried to mobilize around and capitalize on the idea of mingan when interacting with foreign funding agencies. By describing and analyzing the interaction between labor NGOs and potential donors during this workshop, this chapter shows how labor NGOs employ humor and irony to strategically engage with the idea of mingan through which the image of an omnipresent and oppressive state is evoked, ridiculed, and yet sustained.
