The challenges of managing 'new generation' employees in contemporary China: setting the scene

In recent years, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has experienced serious labour-management conflict. The majority of Chinese workers today, out of a workforce of around three-quarters of a billion, belong to a 'new generation' of employees (xinshengdai yuangong), who have been labelled as the 'post-1980s', 'post-1990s' and 'millennial' phenomena, who see the world differently from the previous generation.They have experienced a 'sea-change' in 'Industrial and Labour Relations', as well as 'Human Resource Management, across the 'Middle Kingdom'. In this collection, we explore the background of, the challenges to and the importance of this cohort of young workers in the PRC.