More than 80% of labour disputes in China are solved through mediation, but the processes do not eliminate the antagonism. In the previous part of this blog, I discussed the locals and emigrant workers’ lives in the divided Qingyang town. What effect does this have on labour disputes and the process of solving them?

Throughout Brazil’s history, but ever more dramatically in the second half of the last century, there were frequent and significant expressions of discontent with the economic policies that fail to address the country’s notoriously high socioeconomic disparities.

The protest movement in Brazil has been likened to an awakening giant, that is now suddenly out of control. Revolutions and riots are difficult to keep up with and the piece that I wrote here was slightly out-of-date even before it appeared.

In part 1 of this blog, I discussed the locals’ exclusive life in the divided Qingyang town. This part of the blog will go to the other side of town and explore the lives of an ‘emerging power’: low-educated emigrant workers.

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning when I received my mother’s call from China while contemplating my first blog about China as an “emerged power”.

If China is the world’s factory, then Qingyang town represents the forefront of production. As a town that features manufacturing industry, Qingyang Town is flooded with 2 million emigrant workers, while the registered permanent residents are fewer than 0.4 million.