The Evolution of Protest Activity in China in the 21st Century on the Example of Labor Protests

The purpose of the thesis is to determine the main directions of development of the labor protest movement in China. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were performed: the number of protest activities and their scale were determined, the main reasons for their appearance were identified, and the activities of trade unions and labor non-governmental (non-profit) organizations were analyzed. As a result of the study, the following conclusions were obtained. 1) Labor protests are a very popular phenomenon in China: waves of protest activity with several tens of thousands of participants pass through the country every few years. The main areas where protests are particularly common are manufacturing and construction, which is gradually approaching the service sector. 2) the Peculiarity of Chinese labor protests can be called their self-organization, since the main organizations involved in labor protection - trade unions-are subordinate to the state apparatus, and NGOs are in a semi-legal status. 3) over the Past few years, workers have been protesting for additional rights and better working conditions. This shows that after 20 years of developing relations between the country's leadership and the working population, the government and workers have gone in opposite directions and do not trust each other. According to the level of organization of strikes and demands, it can be considered that workers as a social group are at the initial stage of development of civil society. They have organizations, goals, and means to achieve these goals. The government, on the contrary, seeks to centralize, and any criticism and disagreement is perceived as a crime. Against the backdrop of a deteriorating economy, this situation is not profitable for either the workers or the authorities.