Ivan Franceschini
Ivan Franceschini is a lecturer and deputy director at the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, Asia Institute, University of Melbourne. He is a founder and co-editor of the Made in China Journal, The People’s Map of Global China, and Global China Pulse. He is the co-author of Scam: Inside Southeast Asia's Cybercrime Compounds (2025). His previous books include Global China as Method (2022), Proletarian China: A Century of Chinese Labour (2022), Xinjiang Year Zero (2022), and Afterlives of Chinese Communism: Political Concepts from Mao to Xi (2019). He co-directed the documentaries Dreamwork China (2011) and Boramey: Ghosts in the Factory (2021).
Made in China Journal: Volume 2, Issue 4, 2017 »
Edited by: Ivan Franceschini, Nicholas Loubere
Publication date: December 2017
This issue includes a series of essays that examine different declinations of precarity experienced by Chinese workers. The contributions explore precarity from both conceptual and empirical points of view, focussing on aspects such as the nexus between precarious work and migration, the contentious relationship between precarity and class, new divisions of labour in the Chinese workplace, the consequences of layoffs in the state sector, and the fallout of the ongoing environmental crackdown.
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Made in China Journal: Volume 2, Issue 3, 2017 »
Edited by: Ivan Franceschini, Nicholas Loubere
Publication date: September 2017
In today’s globalised and interconnected world, Chinese labour issues have become much more than merely a local matter. With China’s political and economic power increasing by the day, it is imperative not only to assess how this growing influence affects labour relations in other countries, but also to abandon an ‘exceptional’ view of China by engaging in more comparative research. In this sense, the study of Chinese labour indeed provides a powerful lens—or perhaps a mirror—to further our understanding of the contemporary world and our potential futures. With this aim in mind, in this issue we publish a series of essays that either frame Chinese labour comparatively or examine its transnational implications.
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Made in China Journal: Volume 2, Issue 2, 2017 »
Publication date: June 2017
In June 2017, the government of the United States announced its intention to withdraw from the Paris Accords, severely undermining the global effort to contain climate change. Since then, China has entered the fray, attempting to portray itself as a world leader on environmental issues. While global attention has focussed on China’s top-down environmental efforts, this issue considers the engagement of Chinese citizens with state policies on the environment, and looks into their potential for articulating workable grassroots alternatives. In particular, we consider the management of public resources—the so-called ‘commons’.
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Made in China Journal: Volume 2, Issue 1, 2017 »
Edited by: Ivan Franceschini, Nicholas Loubere
Publication date: March 2017
With the arrest of yet another activist, the airing of yet another public confession, the closure of yet another NGO working for the weak and disenfranchised, and the passing of yet another repressive law, the world has come to view Chinese civil society as if it were on its deathbed. But maybe what is dying is just a dream of civil society with little basis in reality. While we mourn the death of an ideal, it is imperative that we overcome our sorrow to look at the momentous changes that are currently taking place in the realm of Chinese civil society. In this issue, we offer a series of perspectives on these developments.
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Disturbances in Heaven »
Made in China Yearbook 2016
Publication date: February 2017
Labour and civil society are two fundamental components of international discussions concerning China today. Whether it is the arrest of labour activists or rights lawyers, the adoption of new industrial policies, or the passing of draconian rules on non-governmental organisations, the events occurring in these areas in China often make global headlines. At the same time, in spite of the grave challenges for workers and activists, the Chinese labour movement is witnessing significant developments, with the occurrence of some of the largest strikes in decades. All of this calls for more serious analysis from both scholars and practitioners, as well for critical engagement with a broader global audience interested in forging international solidarity. It is with these aims in mind that we have compiled this Made in China Yearbook 2016: Disturbances in Heaven, a collection of original articles by both scholars and activists, analysing the most important trends in Chinese labour and civil society over the past year. With its unique blend of in-depth scholarly work written in a direct, accessible style, this volume will allow readers to situate events and policies related to Chinese labour and civil society in a wider context, and serve as an indispensable reference book for international activists, practitioners, and policy-makers.
Made in China Journal: Volume 1, Issue 4, 2016 »
Publication date: December 2016
In this issue, we present three distinct perspectives on how the party-state manages and controls Chinese society. First, we consider the role of labour law in China as a vehicle for reinforcing capitalist hegemony. We then look into the limitations of the welfare system in relation to migrant labour. Finally, we challenge some widely-held assumptions about the political nature of land-related social movements in the Chinese countryside. The issue also includes a forum on how precarisation has impacted the Chinese workforce and an article that reflects on the role of poetry as a form of resistance.
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Made in China Journal: Volume 1, Issue 3, 2016 »
Publication date: September 2016
The core of this issue is dedicated to a special section on Chinese labour and investment in Africa, with a specific focus on Ghana and Zambia. You will also find an analysis of the current situation of the Chinese working classes and the prospects for the political representation of labour in China, as well as an examination of the struggles that Chinese workers face when they attempt to access the legal system. The issue also includes an overview of recent worker struggles in India and an essay on Zhao Liang’s Behemoth.
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Made in China Journal: Volume 1, Issue 2, 2016 »
Edited by: Ivan Franceschini, Kevin Lin
Publication date: June 2016
Besides the usual summaries of recent events in China, in this issue you will find articles on the struggles of Walmart workers in China, the limits of the ‘rights awakening’ of Chinese workers, and the political implications of resorting to microcredit to alleviate unemployment. Included is also a Forum in which prominent legal experts put the concept of the ‘rule of law’ in China in a wider historical and political perspective and a compendium of the new Law on the Management of Foreign NGOs’ Activities within Mainland China.
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Made in China Journal: Volume 1, Issue 1, 2016 »
Edited by: Ivan Franceschini, Kevin Lin
Publication date: March 2016
In this first issue, you will find summaries of recent events that have taken place in China, as well as a series of columns on specific topics, such as the recent wave of protests in the Chinese state sector and the expected impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on labour rights. We devote the core of the first issue to the plight of Chinese labour NGOs, contextualising it through a debate between three prominent international labour experts. Finally, we celebrate the award of the prestigious Joseph Levenson Prize to Luigi Tomba, a long-standing researcher of Chinese labour.
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