Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Since China’s reform era began in 1978, millions of rural-urban migrant workers, known as nongmingong 农民工, have moved to cities for better wages. However, they remain marginalised in the very urban spaces they sustain. This article examines how these workers challenge China’s distribution of the sensible − the system of what is perceptible, shaped by the urban-rural divide − through their performances. Specifically, I analyse Wang Wei’s Temporary Space (2003), Song Dong’s Potted Landscape (2002), and the 2014 Yue Yuen shoe factory protest. Forms of dissensus include how the nongmingong assert recognition in spaces where they are rendered invisible, challenge control structures like the hukou system and labour policies, and disrupt exploitative urban-rural relationships. These acts enable the nongmingong to contest dominant representations and forge new subjectivities that exceed how they are currently perceived in post-Mao China.
Source: Third Text
Author: Goh Wei Hao
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7116783545
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