in other words, they are social, civil and political rights. In the conclusion of Chapter 7 and also of the book, Pun Ngai sums up her key arguments around the emergence of workers’ agency, collective consciousness and shared interests out of their class experiences in the nexus of power and domination, as well as the crystallisation of workers’ desires to claim their agency. The notion of justice, while potentially significant in the framing of workers’ claims, are missing from her conclusion. The scant attention elsewhere in this book to this promising issue and the extent to which it may leverage workers’ rights-based claims and potentially unite formal and informal workers can be seen as an open ground for future research. Overall, this book is an enjoyable and enlightening read. It gives an intricate account and provides impassioned analysis of the contradictions surrounding the work and lives of migrant workers in China’s “miracle growth.” At the end of Made in China, Pun Ngai’s highly acclaimed book published in 2005 by Duke University Press, she opened up the possibility of social transformation brought about by new dreams and new desires of the migrant working class, despite all their sufferings, despair and their immiseration. Readers will find a similar spirit of hope in this book, albeit a bigger one for democracy in China and labour internationalism. Amid this turbulent time of Chinese labour politics, what some may see as Pun Ngai’s romanticisation, I find justifiable.
