In a period of remarkable change, encompassing less than a quarter of a century, regulation of the labour market of the People’s Republic of China – the world’s largest, now numbering more than 850 million workers – has developed from largely administrative diktats to a sophisticated and wide-ranging framework of statutory, contractual, administrative, and procedural rules. Among much else, this framework includes instruments providing protection for workers’ health and safety, anti-discrimination provisions for women and migrants, and arrangements for social insurance and retirement benefits. However, at a time when lawyers from a wide range of jurisdictions are called upon to work with Chinese enterprises – and against a background of rapid industrial development, dramatic economic growth, and increasing sensitivity to global social and market pressures – China’s ‘socialist market economy’ poses increasingly sharp challenges. Here at last is a book, written by Chinese practitioners and scholars conversant with Western legal systems, that clearly describes the current reality and key emerging trends in China’s labour law. Amongst the numerous issues and topics raised and discussed are the following: