ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the extent to which the kind of passive revolution seen in the East Asian states of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan can also be witnessed in mainland China following the onset of economic reforms in the late 1970s. With the rise of US dominance in the East Asian region following the end of the Second World War, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan all underwent a repression of independent labour movements and the establishment of a comprehensive system of labour subordination. Whilst industrialisation in the broader East Asian region provided the context for China's own capitalist restoration, the accompanying rise of labour and movements for democratisation posed a direct challenge to ongoing attempts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to preserve its own primacy. The days of China's repressive labour regime may be numbered, not only due to domestic social processes but also as a result of China's changing position within the broader international political economy.
