Eye in the Sky

Abstract

To wrap up a tumultuous year in Chinese labour and civil society, we are pleased to announce the publication of the fourth issue of Made in China. Among the most notable events in the last quarter are the protests that erupted at several plants in China owned by multinational companies, such as Coca-Cola, Danone, and Sony, following the announcement that the factories would be sold to local Chinese companies. Other significant happenings include a series of blasts at Chinese coal mines that claimed dozens of lives and prompted widespread public questioning of the commitment of the authorities to workplace safety in the mining sector, as well as the sentencing of Meng Han�the last labour activist on trial as part of the crackdown of December 2015�to twenty-one months in prison. In the China Columns section, we present three essays that offer distinct perspectives on how the party-state manages and controls an increasingly unequal and fractured society.