The functioning of human resource management (HRM) in the People's Republic of China (PRC) undoubtedly takes place within a wider context of labour law (Warner, 1996). There is, in fact, no country where such management takes place other than in a specific cultural and legal context and it is this that gives it its local flavour. Indeed, HRM has to adapt to both the indigenous contexts of culture and its specific laws. This concise monograph attempts to deal with the origin, evolution and transformation of such legislation in modern China, in less than 200 pages. The book focuses on the way successive Chinese Governments have used law to influence people-management, working conditions and labour disputes. It, respectively, covers the last century and the present decades overall, but concentrates in much of its analysis on the period after the Liberation in 1949, namely the People's Republic.
The authors of this work teach and research in, respectively, the University of Melbourne, for Professors Sean Cooney and Sarah Biddulph, and the University of South Australia, for Professor Ying Zhu. They have already published a good deal in the field in the form of books and journal articles. All three are experts in Chinese legal and/or management studies and have a command of Mandarin. They write clearly and endeavour to make this complex subject intelligible to a student readership.
The work consists of eight chapters, namely, introduction, Chinese “fair work” law from 1912 to 1978: creation and destruction, the re-creation of labour market and legal institutions from 1978 to 1994, the Labour Law of 1994: structuring modern Chinese work regulation, after the Labour Law: crisis and regulatory responses from 1994 to 2007, the Labour Contract Law of 2007: reforming contract to protect work standards, dispute resolution, labour inspection and firm behaviour since 2007, and lastly, conclusion: eight observations about “fair work” law in China.
The first part of this book deals with the nature of labour law in the PRC and how it relates to the concept of “fair work”. This is the main theme which the authors have attempted to cover and they do this in significant and fascinating detail. Their work follows in the footsteps of earlier writers on the subject, such as Professor Ronald Brown, whose large and impressive tome on the subject came out a few years ago (Brown, 2010). One of the early chapters deals with the contribution of the Republican era (1912-1949) and the Nanjing Government in the legislative realm. The Labour Law of 1929 is singled out for mention and is of particular interest, since the authors claim it anticipates the later 1994 legislation that emerged from the economic reforms of Deng's reform period. The former is seen as “a milestone in history of Chinese work regulation” (p. 19). The link with the legal contributions of the pre-1949 period to the later one is especially revealing and adds to the originality of this monograph. It is not “received wisdom”, possibly controversial but is nonetheless welcome.
Two pieces of legislation in particular have received very detailed attention. The first is the 1994 Labour Law and the second is the 2007 Labour Contract Law; the latter now shapes HRM practices very directly (Cooke, 2012). The 1994 legislation is, in turn, the “anchor of China's labour regulation” (p. 49) and embodies the marketization of its labour practices. The 2007 law, a reaction to “growing labour discontent” (p. 89) goes on to reinforce workers' rights which it was feared were being eroded by the advance of globalization. The specific exemplifications of both of these two laws constitute the core of the work and are highly definitive. They will no doubt be a source of reference for students of the field for many years to come. The authors conclude in their final chapter that greater improvements in labour regulation are needed as China sees a new political leadership taking office with the potential for further reform but with international economic instability on the horizon (pp. 143ff.).
To sum up, this book represents a fine, up-to-date piece of research based not only on very detailed archival- and library-delving but also qualitative interviews with those involved in the day-to-day operation of the law in China. There is, additionally, a methodological appendix listing the organisations involved in this, as well as extensive notes and an excellent bibliography of both English-language and Chinese-language sources. The book concludes with a short but useful index. Both the authors and publishers may be congratulated for bringing out this very relevant, highly scholarly monograph.
There are a number of ways, however, in which this work might be improved. It might, for instance, have benefited from more “time-line” presentations of successive dates and details. Inserts might also have been provided listing legislative detail in either tables or figures for each period covered. It, for example, might have dealt in more descriptive, as well as analytical, detail with specific cases where labour law had sought to deal with disputes in foreign-invested companies like Foxconn, Honda, Walmart and the like, in recent years. Last, the authors might have attempted to link the field of legislation more closely to the everyday practice of human resource management. A second edition should take these points into account.
The hardback book will, nonetheless, be of great interest to both undergraduates and postgraduates interested in Chinese management studies, labour law and HRM, as well as teachers of the subjects and interested practitioners. But at the price, it is most likely to be a faculty-library purchase; a less expensive, paperback version should definitely follow in due course.
