Workers in the export-processing zones of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) could be regarded as representatives of tChina's new working class. The author has conducted continuous observation, documentation and analysis of this population’s conditions and struggles for many years. Due to the unevenness of China’s economic development and the relative autonomy of capitalist development in the PRD, in contrast with workers in China’s other regions and economic sectors, PRD workers have undergone a relatively independent process of class formation. Perhaps the most important aspect of this process has been that, over the past fourteen years since 2002, the PRD has witnessed a massive number of spontaneous strikes that can be clearly divided into three periods, each involving a strike wave.
