In order to cope with the legal challenges presented by the opening of the Chinese economy to the West, the legal system in China has been undergoing significant reform. In 1995 a new Judge's law came into effect after going through 30 draft revisions. This new law provided for sweeping changes in Chinese legal process. This book provides an overview of these reforms and explains what they mean for Westerners operating in China.

Co-Winner of the 2004 Colorado Endowment for the Humanities Publication Prize

From burying scurvy victims up to their necks in the earth to drinking kerosene mixed with sugar to treat influenza, mid-nineteenth century medicine in the mining communities of the West usually consisted of home remedies that were often remarkable for their inventiveness but tragically random in their effectiveness. Only as a desperate last resort would people turn to the medical community, which had developed a deplorable reputation for quackery and charlatanism because of its lack of licensing regulations and uniform educational standards. "No One Ailing Except a Physician" takes readers back to those free-wheeling days in the mining towns and the dark recesses of the mines themselves, a time when illness or injury was usually survived more due to sheer luck than the interventions of medicine.

In this important new contribution to both mining and medical history, historians Duane A. Smith and Ronald C. Brown present a detailed analysis of the ailments that confronted the miners and the methods with which they and their doctors attempted to "cure" them. The occupational hazards of mining, with its strenuous labor and exposure to the elements, contributed to the miners' vulnerability to disease and injury, which was further worsened by the typical miner's refusal to heed prevailing medical wisdom and common sense, often leading to easily preventable diseases such as scurvy. And because medical science of the era had not progressed much beyond that of the ancient Greeks, such debilitating diseases such as cholera, influenza, dysentery, and malaria proved to be virtual death sentences, to say nothing of occupational accidents with fires and explosions, mine collapses, and safety cage mishaps.

This book deals with international labor and employment law in the East Asia Region (EA), particularly dealing with China, South Korea and Japan. It explores and explains the effects of globalization and discusses the role played by international labor law as it affects lawyers, business, labor, labor unions and human resource management, and the labor issues that can arise in dealing in EA trade and investment. The text, and the readings (from area experts), are organized and written to provide the reader with, first, a broad understanding and insight into the global dimensions of the fast-emerging area of labor and employment issues (e.g., global legal standards and their interplay with domestic and foreign laws); and second, to show how these laws and approaches play out in specific EA countries (comparing global approaches with the specific laws of each country on four common agenda items: regulatory administration, workers' rights, trade unions and dispute resolution).

When the colorful western prospectors had made their strikes and moved on, they left behind them another, lesser known breed of men, the hard-rock miners. For six decades these working stiffs followed mining opportunities into the boom towns of the intermountain West and gouged from the depths other men's wealth. In mines ranging from glorified prospect holes to underground extractories, they picked and blasted, sometimes in shifts of twelve hours, not only ore and minerals but also lung-destroying dust. Working by candle light in the ill-ventilated, narrow, and often sweltering depths, they courted dangers from fire, gas, subterranean water, and cave-ins. Management's interest in high productivity and profits often jeopardized miners' needs for a living wage and job security. Some miners retaliated by high-grading, or stealing their bosses' ore, for the old miners' maxim told them "gold belongs to him wot finds it."
Above ground they lived in communities like Cripple Creek, Goldfield, Bisbee, and Leadville, communities that were western and yet urban. There they faced the rigors of a rugged climate, frontier scarcities, and ramshackle housing. But they relieved their hardships with their own brands of entertainment: rock-drilling contests that were to the miner what rodeos were to the cowboy; practical jokes like shivarees, snipe hunts, and social gatherings, picnics, and special celebrations.
Drawing extensively on contemporary sources, Ronald C. Brown provides the first thorough study of the daily lives and work of hard-rock miners of Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Nevada in the period 1860 to 1920. He carefully documents his argument that, though it initially made mining more dangerous, ongoing industrialization benefited miners by opening more jobs and, in the long run, by eliminating preindustrial dangers.

This book deals with international labor and employment law in the East Asia Region (EA), particularly dealing with China, South Korea and Japan. It explores and explains the effects of globalization and discusses the role played by international labor law as it affects lawyers, business, labor, labor unions and human resource management, and the labor issues that can arise in dealing in EA trade and investment. The text, and the readings (from area experts), are organized and written to provide the reader with, first, a broad understanding and insight into the global dimensions of the fast-emerging area of labor and employment issues (e.g., global legal standards and their interplay with domestic and foreign laws); and second, to show how these laws and approaches play out in specific EA countries (comparing global approaches with the specific laws of each country on four common agenda items: regulatory administration, workers' rights, trade unions and dispute resolution).

Continued economic prosperity in China and its international competitive advantage have been due in large part to the labor of workers in China, who for many years toiled in under-regulated workplaces. Now, there are new labor law reforms raising the rights and standards of workers throughout China. These new laws have been praised for their progressive measures and at the same time blamed for placing too many economic burdens on companies, especially those operating on the margins and those that have caused business failures. This, combined with the recent global downturn and the millions of displaced and unemployed Chinese migrant laborers, has created ongoing debate about the new labor laws. Meanwhile the Chinese Union has organized Wal-Mart and many of the Global Fortune 500 companies and a form of collective bargaining is occurring. Workers are pursuing their legal labor rights in increasing numbers. This book provides a clear overview of the current labor and employment law environment in China and its legal requirements, as well as current practices under these laws used to deal with growing labor issues. Never has there been a time when understanding China s labor and employment laws is more important.

Continued economic prosperity in China and its international competitive advantage have been due in large part to the labor of workers in China, who for many years toiled in under-regulated workplaces. Now, there are new labor law reforms raising the rights and standards of workers throughout China. These new laws have been praised for their progressive measures and at the same time blamed for placing too many economic burdens on companies, especially those operating on the margins and those that have caused business failures. This, combined with the recent global downturn and the millions of displaced and unemployed Chinese migrant laborers, has created ongoing debate about the new labor laws. Meanwhile the Chinese Union has organized Wal-Mart and many of the Global Fortune 500 companies and a form of collective bargaining is occurring. Workers are pursuing their legal labor rights in increasing numbers. This book provides a clear overview of the current labor and employment law environment in China and its legal requirements, as well as current practices under these laws used to deal with growing labor issues. Never has there been a time when understanding China s labor and employment laws is more important."