Abstract The resolution of labor disputes and the localized operation of labor law constitute key vantage points from which to examine labor governance in China. Taking a sociological perspective, this article investigates the grassroots handling of “double wage” disputes and explores their theoretical implications. It reconstructs in detail the procedures and principles through which local society resolves such cases. The study finds that labor law, situated within the framework of central–local relations, acquires pronounced local characteristics in practice: the industrial and social foundations of specific regions shape how the law functions at both the arbitration and court levels. Divergent degrees of administrative involvement lead labor-arbitration commissions and people’s courts to issue different outcomes in cases of the same type, revealing a clear divide between arbitration and adjudication. The research further shows that regional legal consciousness and pragmatic flexibility in judicial practice partially undermine the “paternalism” of state law. Viewed through the lenses of center–local dynamics and the arbitration–adjudication split, China’s labor governance emerges as a complex and evolving formation, offering important insights for future scholarship and practical reform of labor-dispute resolution.
Jian Liu (Fri,) studied this question.
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