Migrants of Lujiazui: Spotlights of Hidden Power Structures in Labor Conditions in Shanghai

• In Event: 036 - Section on Labor and Labor Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 06. Worker and Union Strategies and Structures: Beyond the United States

Abstract

The concentration of global capital has led to the rise of global cities. Shanghai has emerged as a global city, and its economic and cultural dominance is heralded through the construction of dramatic skyscrapers such as the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin Mao Tower, and Shanghai World Financial Center in Lujiazui, its central business district. These iconic images of these buildings are highly visible and are replicated in a variety of forms of media; however, they obfuscate the power structure that created and undergirds these buildings. The migrant workers from rural provinces that maintain the physical infrastructure of these pristine buildings are largely invisible to the public eye. There is extensive literature about the poor working conditions and low wages of industrial factory workers in China, but there is little is known about the their working conditions and lived experiences of migrant manual laborers in the central business districts. This paper aims to illuminate how their labor is an integral part of the local and global infrastructure.

Author

• Emily Helen Yen, UCLA