The Moral Universe of Aggrieved Chinese Workers: Workers' Appeals to Arbitration Committees and Letters and Visits Offices

Abstract

Societies governed by different political regimes develop different ways of expressing a sense of injustice. Traditionally, and then quite differently under Mao, particular norms prevailed regarding what is fair, just or correct, and these are now coexisting with and being challenged by the new economic order that has arisen over the past two decades. Analysing the sense of injustice expressed today by ordinary Chinese citizens emerging from such a complex heritage can help us understand the normative repertoire used by Chinese people today to interpret the reality they face and how they respond to it. In examining this, it must be noted that the nature of the norms and values that get articulated depends upon the specific arenas available to people. Different types of spaces confer legitimacy upon different avenues of approach to grievances. Arbitration committees (zhongcai weiyuanhui), which are formally tasked with resolving labour disputes in China, and Letters and Visits Offices (xinfangke), which are used in China as the equivalent of ombudsmen, are two institutions that apply different tests of justice'-the first based largely on points of legality and the second more on generalized appeals about injustice.