"The Master in Bondageis not a simple history. In each chapter,HuaiyinLisystematically—and convincingly—makes a substantial contribution to the history of labor in China, challenging key tenets of what have become conventional understandings of industrial relations during the Maoist era."—Joel Andreas, John Hopkins University

"Huaiyin Li presents a treasure trove of oral history which can never be collected again, and which goes way beyond the documentary record to add so much that is significant, new, and surprising to our picture of the Chinese working class at a crucial juncture in its re-formation."—Marc Blecher, Oberlin College

"By exploring the micro-level mechanisms that constrained and motivated the labor force in post-1949 China, Li seeks to reconstruct the realities of worker performance in production and in factory governance in this thoughtfully structured and thoroughly argued volume.... Highly recommended."—S. K. Ma, CHOICE