Migrant workers and China's development

This chapter addresses a critical issue relating to the sustainability of the vast economic progress that the People’s Republic of China has made in just over three decades of opening up and becoming a full participant in the global economy. The phenomenal development has brought about good fortune to many of the country’s communities but it has also engendered different types of problems. For example millions of people have been displaced to become migrant workers and social inequalities have remained or even widened. These inequalities are significantly sharp in relations with migrant workers who are incidentally the backbone of China’s development and whose labour benefits the myriad of private companies in the country. The chapter concludes that the sustainability of China’s development depends largely on the ability and willingness of those beneficiary companies and the State to face up to these issues and to successfully confront and deal with them