This book is based on my Ph.D. dissertation, submitted in October 2014
to the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Kassel under the
title ‘Hegemonic Transformation: The State, Laws, and Labour Relations
in Post-Socialist China’. Some parts of my dissertation have been revised
and published in China Quarterly and Journal of Contemporary Asia under
the titles “The Labour Law System, Capitalist Hegemony and Class
Politics in China” and “Putting the Chinese State in Its Place: A March
from Passive Revolution to Hegemony” respectively. The idea of investigating
the hegemonic capacity of the Chinese state first came to mind in
2008 while I studied for a Masters in the Labour Policies and Globalization
program at the Global Labour University (GLU). I wanted to make it a
research topic for my thesis, but, after talking to my supervisor
Prof. Christoph Scherrer, I found it would be too ambitious. However,
I did not put the topic out of my mind. After graduating from GLU,
I decided to pursue a Ph.D. and wrote a proposal on this topic that I had
been thinking about for some time.
I could not have finished this book without the aid and encouragement
of numerous persons and organizations. Most importantly, I have to thank
my mom and dad. They offered me everything that they had without
asking for anything in return. Words fail to convey my deepest gratitude to
and my love for them. I would also like to thank my two brothers and
sisters-in-law for their support and tolerance in my never-ending studies.