Hostname: page-component-5cf477f64f-tx7qf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-02T14:06:49.818Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Interns or Workers? China's Student Labor Regime

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Abstract

In the summer of 2010, Taiwanese-based Foxconn Technology Group-the world's largest electronics manufacturer-utilized the labor of 150,000 student interns from vocational schools at its facilities all over China. Foxconn is one of many global firms utilizing student intern labor. Far from being freely chosen, student internships are organized by the local state working with enterprises and schools, frequently in violation of the rights of student interns and in violation of Chinese law. Foxconn, through direct deals with government departments, has outsourced recruitment to vocational schools to obtain a new source of student workers at below minimum wages. The goals and timing of internships are set not by student educational or training priorities but by the demand for products dictated by companies. Based on fieldwork in Sichuan and Guangdong between 2011 and 2012 and followup interviews in 2014, as well as analysis of the Henan government's policies on internships, we find that the student labor regime has become integral to the capital-state relationship as a means to assure a lower cost and flexible labor supply for Foxconn and others. This is one dimension of the emerging face of Chinese state capitalism.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreas, Joel. 2012. “Industrial Restructuring and Class Transformation in China.” In China's Peasants and Workers: Changing Class Identities, edited by Carrillo, Beatriz and Goodman, David S. G., 102–23. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Apple. 2013. “Apple Supplier Responsibility:2013 Progress Report.”Google Scholar
Blecher, Marc. 2010. “Globalization, Structural Reform, and Labour Politics in China.” Global Labour Journal 1:92111.Google Scholar
Brown, Earl V. Jr., and deCant, Kyle A.. 2014. “Exploiting Chinese Interns as Unprotected Industrial Labor.” Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal 15:150–05.Google Scholar
Burawoy, Michael. 1985. The Politics of Production: Factory Regimes under Capitalism and Socialism. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Butollo, Florian, and Brink, Tobias ten. 2012. “Challenging the Atomization of Discontent: Patterns of Migrant-Worker Protest in China during the Series of Strikes in 2010.” Critical Asian Studies 44:419–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Anita. 2001. China's Workers under Assault: The Exploitation of Labor in a Globalizing Economy. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Chan, Chris King-Chi, and Hui, Elaine Sio-Ieng. 2014. “The Development of Collective Bargaining in China: From ‘Collective Bargaining by Riot' to ‘Party State-led Wage Bargaining.'“ The China Quarterly 217:221–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Jenny. 2009. “Meaningful Progress or Illusory Reform? Analyzing China's Labor Contract Law.” New Labor Forum 18:4351.Google Scholar
Chan, Jenny. 2013. “A Suicide Survivor: The Life of a Chinese Worker.” New Technology, Worker and Employment 28:8499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Jenny, and Selden, Mark. 2014. “China's Rural Migrant Workers, the State, and Labor Politics.” Critical Asian Studies 46:599620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Jenny, and Pun, Ngai. 2010. “Suicide as Protest for the New Generation of Chinese Migrant Workers: Foxconn, Global Capital, and the State.” The Asia-Pacific Journal 37-2-10, September 13.Google Scholar
Chan, Jenny, Pun, Ngai, and Selden, Mark. 2013. “The Politics of Global Production: Apple, Foxconn, and China's New Working Class.” New Technology, Work and Employment 28:100–05.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Jenny, Pun, Ngai, and Selden, Mark. 2015. “Apple's iPad City: Subcontracting Exploitation to China.” In Handbook of the International Political Economy of Production, edited by van, Kees Pijl, der, 7697. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Chakrabortty, Aditya. 2013. “Forced Student Labor is Central to the Chinese Economic Miracle.” The Guardian, October 14.Google Scholar
Chen, Xi. 2012. Social Protest and Contentious Authoritarianism in China. New York: Cambridge Press Press.Google Scholar
China Labor Watch. 2014. “Supplier Factory of Samsung, Lenovo Violates Rights of Children and Students.” August 28.Google Scholar
Chu, Yin-wah, and So, Alvin Y.. 2010. “State Neoliberalism: The Chinese Road to Capitalism.” In Chinese Capitalisms: Historical Emergence and Political Implications, edited by Chu, Yin-wah, 4672. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cui, Fan, Ge, Ying, and Jing, Fengchun. 2013. “The Effects of the Labor Contract Law on the Chinese Labor Market.” Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 10:462–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Deborah S. 2014. “Demographic Challenges for a Rising China.” Dæ?dalus: The Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 143 (2):2638.Google Scholar
DeCarlo, Scott. 2014. “The World's 10 Largest Employers.” Fortune, November 12.Google Scholar
Dinges, Thomas. 2012. “To Win, Focus on Speed, Not Just Cost.” EBN (The Premier Online Community for Global Supply Chain Professionals), July 19.Google Scholar
Dou, Eva. 2014. “China's Tech Factories Turn to Student Labor.” The Wall Street Journal, September 24.Google Scholar
Eggleston, Karen, Oi, Jean C., Rozelle, Scott, Sun, Ang, Walder, Andrew, and Zhou, Xueguang. 2013. “Will Demographic Change Slow China's Rise?The Journal of Asian Studies 72:505–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC). 2014. “Annual Report 2013.”Google Scholar
Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC). 2015. “Working to Eradicate Forced Labor in the Electronics Supply Chain.”Google Scholar
Elfstrom, Manfred, and Kuruvilla, Sarosh. 2014. “The Changing Nature of Labor Unrest in China.” ILR (Industrial and Labor Relations) Review 67:453–30.Google Scholar
Evans, Peter, and Staveteig, Sarah. 2009. “The Changing Structure of Employment in Contemporary China.” In Creating Wealth and Poverty in Postsocialist China, edited by Davis, Deborah S. and Feng, Wang, 6982. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Fair Labor Association. 2012. “Independent Investigation of Apple Supplier, Foxconn Report Highlights.”Google Scholar
Fair Labor Association. 2013. “Second Foxconn Verification Status Report.”Google Scholar
Foxconn Technology Group. 2010a. “Foxconn is Committed to a Safe and Positive Working Environment.” October 11.Google Scholar
Foxconn Technology Group. 2010b. “Hezuo, gongying: iDPBG zhaokai shixisheng zongjie ji biaozhang dahui” (“Win-Win Cooperation”: iDPBG Convenes the Intern Appraisal and Awards Ceremony). The Foxconn Brid geworkers 183:23. [富士康科技集 團。 2010b. “合作.共贏"︰iDPBG召開實習生總結 暨表彰大會. 鴻橋 183:23].Google Scholar
Foxconn Technology Group. 2011. “Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility Annual Report 2010.”Google Scholar
Foxconn Technology Group. 2013. “A 7-page company statement to authors.” December 31. Printed Edition.Google Scholar
Friedman, Eli. 2014. Insurgency Trap: Labor Politics in Postsocialist China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, Eli, and Lee, Ching Kwan. 2010. “Remaking the World of Chinese Labour: A 30- Year Retrospective.” British Journal of Industrial Relations 48:507–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, Mary E. 2005. Contagious Capitalism: Globalization and the Politics of Labor in China. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Mary E. 2014. “China's Workers Movement and the End of the Rapid-Growth Era.” Dæ?dalus: The Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 143:8195.Google Scholar
Gallagher, Mary E., and Dong, Baohua. 2011. “Legislating Harmony: Labor Law Reform in Contemporary China.” In From Iron Rice Bowl to Informalization: Markets, Workers, and the State in a Changing China, edited by Kuruvilla, Sarosh, Lee, Ching Kwan, and Gallagher, Mary E., 3660. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, Mary E., Giles, John, Park, Albert, and Wang, Meiyan. 2015. “China's 2008 Labor Contract Law: Implementation and Implications for China's Workers.” Human Relations 68:197235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Global Times. 2012. “Officials Paying for Foxconn Hires.” August 16.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Gary G., Petrovic, Misha, and Senauer, Benjamin, eds. 2011. The Market Makers: How Retailers are Reshaping the Global Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, Mette Halskov, and Woronov, T. E.. 2013. “Demanding and Resisting Vocational Education: A Comparative Study of Schools in Rural and Urban China.” Comparative Education 49:242–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, Harper, Virginia, E. 2009. “From Contracts to Compliance? An Early Look at Implementation under China's New Labor Legislation.” Columbia Journal of Asian Law 23:33107.Google Scholar
Henan Provincial Education Department. 2010. “Guanyu zuzhi zhongdeng zhiye xuexiao xuesheng fu Fushikang Keji Jituan dinggang shixi youguan shiyi de jinji tongzhi” (Emergency Announcement on Organizing Secondary Vocational School Students for Internships at Foxconn Technology Group). September 4.[河南省教育廳 2010. “關於組織 中等職業學校學生赴富士康科技集團頂崗實習有 關事宜的緊急通知.” 9月4日].Google Scholar
Henan Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office. 2010. “Guanyu Fushikang Keji Jituan zai Wosheng Pikun Diqu Zhaopin Peixun Yuangong Gongzuo de Tongzhi” (Announcement regarding Foxconn Technology Group worker recruitment and training in impoverished areas). July 14. [河南省扶貧辦. 2010. “關於富 士康科技集團在我省貧困地區招聘培訓員工工作 的通知.” 7月14日]. Printed Edition.Google Scholar
Hung, Ho-fung. 2008. “Rise of China and the Global Overaccumulation Crisis.” Review of International Political Economy 15:149–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hung, Ho-fung. 2009. “America's Head Servant? The PRC's Dilemma in the Global Crisis.” New Left Review 60:525.Google Scholar
Hurst, William. 2009. The Chinese Worker after Socialism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurst, William. 2015. “Grasping the Large and Releasing the Small: A Bottom-Up Perspective on Reform in a County-Level Enterprise.” In Local Governance Innovation in China: Experimentation, Diffusion, and Defiance, edited by Teets, Jessica C. and Hurst, William, 103–36. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kraemer, Kenneth L., Linden, Greg, and Dedrick, Jason. 2011. “Capturing Value in Global Networks: Apple's iPad and iPhone.”Google Scholar
Kuczera, Malgorzata, and Field, Simon. 2010. “Learning for Jobs: OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training-Options for China.”CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Ching Kwan. 2007. Against the Law: Labor Protests in China's Rustbelt and Sunbelt. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Ching Kwan, and Zhang, Yonghong. 2013. “The Power of Instability: Unraveling the Microfoundations of Bargained Authoritarianism in China.” American Journal of Sociology 118:1475–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leng, Tse-Kang. 2005. “State and Business in the Era of Globalization: The Case of CrossStrait Linkages in the Computer Industry.” The China Journal 53 (January):6379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liebman, Benjamin L. 2014. “Legal Reform: China's Law-Stability Paradox.” Daedalus: The Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 143:96109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ling, Minhua. 2015. “‘Bad Students Go to Vocational Schools!': Education, Social Reproduction and Migrant Youth in Urban China.” The China Journal 73:108–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Litzinger, Ralph A. 2013. “The Labor Question in China: Apple and Beyond.” The South Atlantic Quarterly 112:172–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, Richard M. 2013. The Promise and Limits of Private Power: Promoting Labor Standards in a Global Economy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lü?thje, Boy, Hü?rtgen, Stefanie, Pawlicki, Peter, and Sproll, Martina. 2013. From Silicon Valley to Shenzhen: Global Production and Work in the IT Industry. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyddon, Dave, Cao, Xuebing, Meng, Quan and Lu, Jun. 2015. “A Strike of ‘Unorganised’ Workers in a Chinese Car Factory: The Nanhai Honda Events of 2010.” Industrial Relations Journal 46 (2):134–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marketplace. 2012. “The People behind Your iPad.” April 12.Google Scholar
McKay, Steven C. 2006. Satanic Mills or Silicon Islands? The Politics of High-Tech Production in the Philippines. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNally, Christopher A. 2004. “Sichuan: Driving Capitalist Development Westward.” The China Quarterly 178:426–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministries of Education and Finance of the People's Republic of China. 2007. “Zhongdeng zhiye xuexiao xuesheng shixi guanli banfa” (Administrative Measures for Internships at Secondary Vocational Schools). [中華人民共和 國教育部、財政部. 2007. “中等職業學校學生實 習管理辦法”].Google Scholar
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. 1996. “Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo zhiye jiaoyu fa” (Vocational Education Law of the People's Republic of China). [中華人民共和 國教育部. 1996. “中華人民共和國職業教育 法”].Google Scholar
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. 2010a. “Guojia zhongchangqi jiaoyu gaige he fazhan guihua gangyao (2010-2020)” (Outline of China's National Plan for Medium and Long-Term Education Reform and Development, 2010-2020). July 29. [中華人民共 和國教育部 2010a. 國家中長期教育改革和發展 規劃綱要 (2010-2020年).” 7月29日].Google Scholar
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. 2010b. “Guanyu yingdui qiye jigonghuang jinyibu zuohao zhongdeng zhiye xuexiao xuesheng shixi gongzuo de tongzhi” (The Circular on Further Improving the Work of Secondary Vocational School Student Internship Regarding Skilled Labor Shortage of Enterprises). March 10. [中華人民共和國教育部. 2010. "關於應對企業技工荒進一步做好中等職業 學校學生實習工作的通知." 3月10日].Google Scholar
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. 2012. “Zhiye xuexiao xuesheng dinggang shixi guanli guiding” (Draft Rules on the Management of Vocational School Student Internships). November 15. [中華人民共和國教 育部. 2012. "職業學校學生頂崗實習管理規定." 11月15日].Google Scholar
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. 2014. “‘Zhongzhi xuesheng shixi guanli' de guiding muqian shi nage?” (What are the Current Regulations on “The Management of Secondary Vocational School Student Internships”?). December 11. 中華人民共和國教 育部. 2014. “‘Zhongzhi Xuesheng Shixi Guanli' de Guiding Muqian shi Nage?” (What are the Current Regulations on “The Management of Secondary Vocational School Student Internships”?) [中華人民共和國教育部. 2014. “ 中職學生實習管理"的規定目前是哪個? 12月11 日].Google Scholar
National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. 2014. “2013 Nian quanguo nongmingong jiance diaocha baogao” (Investigative Report on the Monitoring of Chinese Rural Migrant Workers in 2013). May 12. [中華人民共和國國家統計局. 2014. “2013年 全國農民工監測調查報告.” 5月12日].Google Scholar
Naughton, Barry. 2014. “China's Economy: Complacency, Crisis & the Challenge of Reform.” Daedalus: Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences 143 (2):1425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ngok, Kinglun. 2008. “The Changes of Chinese Labor Policy and Labor Legislation in the Context of Market Transition.” International Labor and Working-Class History 73:4564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, Albert, and Cai, Fang. 2011. “The Informalization of the Chinese Labor Market.” In From Iron Rice Bowl to Informalization: Markets, Workers, and the State in a Changing China, edited by Kuruvilla, Sarosh, Lee, Ching Kwan, and Gallagher, Mary E., 1735. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perlin, Ross. 2011. Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Pringle, Tim. 2011. Trade Unions in China: The Challenge of Labour Unrest. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pun, Ngai, and Chan, Jenny. 2012. “Global Capital, the State, and Chinese Workers: The Foxconn Experience.” Modern China 38:383410.Google Scholar
Pun, Ngai, and Chan, Jenny. 2013. “The Spatial Politics of Labor in China: Life, Labor, and a New Generation of Migrant Workers.” The South Atlantic Quarterly 112:179–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pun, Ngai, Yuan, Shen, Yuhua, Guo, Huilin, Lu, Chan, Jenny, and Selden, Mark. 2014. “Worker- Intellectual Unity: Trans-Border Sociological Intervention in Foxconn.” Current Sociology 62:209–92.Google Scholar
Ross, Andrew. 2004. Low Pay, High Profile: The Global Push for Fair Labor. New York: The Press Press.Google Scholar
Ross, Andrew. 2006. Fast Boat to China: Corporate Flight and the Consequences of Free Trade-Lessons from Shanghai. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Ruggie, John. 2013. Just Business: Multinational Corporations and Human Rights. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Rural Education Action Program. 2014. “Apple and REAP Partnering to Protect Student Workers in China from Exploitation.” February 13.Google Scholar
SACOM (Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior). 2012. “Students and Scholars Demand Tim Cook Stop Using Student Workers and Ensure Decent Working Conditions at Apple Suppliers!” February 9.Google Scholar
Selden, Mark, and Perry, Elizabeth J.. 2010. “Introduction: Reform, Conflict and Resistance in Contemporary China.” In Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance, 3rd ed., edited by Perry, Elizabeth J. and Selden, Mark, 130. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sichuan Provincial People's Government. 2011. “Sichuan: Top Choice of Taiwan Enterprises.” May 5.Google Scholar
Silver, Beverly J. 2003. Forces of Labor: Workers' Movements and Globalization since 1870. Cambridge. UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Chris, and Chan, Jenny. 2015. “Working for Two Bosses: Student Interns as Constrained Labour in China.” Human Relations 68:305–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Ted, Sonnenfeld, David A., and Pellow, David Naguib, eds. 2006. Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Solinger, Dorothy J. 2009. States' Gains, Labor's Losses: China, France, and Mexico Choose Global Liaisons, 1980-2000. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
The People's Government of Guangyuan City (Sichuan). 2011a. “Shi Laodong he Shehui Baozhang Ju juzhang Li Zaiyang: Zai quanshi Fushikang Chengdu xiangmu renli ziyuan zhaomu gongzuo huiyi shang de fayan” (Foxconn Chengdu Project Human Resources Recruitment Conference: Presentation by Li Zaiyang, Guangyuan Labor and Social Security Bureau Chief). January 25. [廣元市人民政府(四 川). 2011a. "市勞動和社會保障局局長李在揚︰在 全市富士康成都項目人力資源招募工作會議上的 發言." 1月25日].Google Scholar
The People's Government of Guangyuan City (Sichuan). 2011b. “Changwu fushizhang Zhao Yong: Zai quanshi Fushikang Chengdu xiangmu renli ziyuan zhaomu gongzuo Huiyi shang de jianghua” (Foxconn Chengdu Project Human Resources Recruitment Conference: Speech by Zhao Yong, Deputy Mayor of Guangyuan City). January 25. [廣元市人民政府(四川). 2011b. "常 務副市長趙勇︰在全市富士康成都項目人力資源 招募工作會議上的講話." 1月25日.].Google Scholar
Wang, Haiyan, Appelbaum, Richard P., Degiuli, Francesca, and Lichtenstein, Nelson. 2009. “China's New Labor Contract Law: Is China Moving towards Increased Power for Workers?Third World Quarterly 30:485501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, Edward, Lambert, Rob, and Bezuidenhout, Andries. 2008. Grounding Globalization: Labour in the Age of Insecurity. Malden, MA: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weir, Bill. 2012. “A Trip to the iFactory.” ABC News, February 21.Google Scholar
Whyte, Martin King. 2014. “Soaring Income Gaps: China in Comparative Perspective.” Dæ?dalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences 143:3952.Google Scholar
Woronov, T. E. 2011. “Learning to Serve: Urban Youth, Vocational Schools and New Class Formations in China.” The China Journal 66:7799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xinhua. 2015. “China's Vocational Institutions Train 130 Million.” June 29.Google Scholar
Zhang, Lu. 2015. Inside China's Automobile Factories: The Politics of Labor and Worker Resistance. New York: Cambridge Press Press.Google Scholar
Zhengzhou City Education Bureau (Henan). 2010. “Guanyu dongyuan zhongdeng zhiye xuexiao xuesheng dao Shenzhen Fushikang Keji Jituan jiuye (shixi) de tongzhi” (Notification to Mobilize Secondary Vocational School Students for Employment (Internship) at Foxconn Shenzhen). June 12.鄭州市教育局(河南). 2010. "關於動員中等職業學校學生到深圳富士康 科技集團就業(實習)的通知." 6月12日.].Google Scholar
Zhou, Ying. 2013. “The State of Precarious Work in China.” American Behavioral Scientist 57:354–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zipp, Daniel Y. and Blecher, Marc. 2015. “Migrants and Mobilization: Sectoral Patterns in China, 2010-2013.” Global Labour Journal 6:116–66.Google Scholar