Activism Beyond Borders: The Study of Trans-border Anti-sweatshop Campaigns across Hong Kong and Mainland China

China's economic reform since the late 1970s and expansion of global capitalism has turned the country into the biggest "world factory", as well as the biggest "sweatshop". In global supply chains, Chinese workers, particularly migrant workers, suffer poor working conditions and a lack of labor protection. Countering "hegemonic globalization", activists and transnational NGOs participate in a variety of labor rights activism. This thesis looks into trans-border pro-labor activism across the border between Hong Kong and Mainland China, with a specific focus on anti-sweatshop campaigns. A multi-sited ethnographic method is used to document six anti-sweatshop campaigns to strive for better working conditions and fairer labor practices. Using these cases, this study examines the mechanism and processes of trans-border anti-sweatshop campaigns and networks involving NGOs, student groups and workers. The study also analyzes how this mechanism works at a micro level and to what extent it is effective. The author indicates that anti-sweatshop activism in Greater China has experienced several evolving patterns --- from marketplace/consumer-centered to producing-sites-centered, and has moved domestic actors (including workers, students, scholars, media and consumers) "from margin to center". Such evolution has catalyzed the formation of a "Mainland-Hong Kong-global" anti-sweatshop network to further address China's labor issues. Trans-border anti-sweatshop activism faces many obstacles such as limited political opportunities and activists' limited capacity in mobilizing the mass participation of domestic actors. The author further suggests that the potential of such activism lies with the possibilities to build up deeper solidarity with workers and greater unity with other pro-labor actors and resources.