At a time when precarious labor is on the rise on a global scale, Young and Restless in China explores both the institutional and the individual processes that lead to informal employment and the clustering of the 'great gods' (dashen) – migrant workers, mostly male and born in the 1990s, who are disappointed by exploitative factories and thus choose short-term employment and day labor – in urban migrant communities. Based on ethnographic studies in two of those communities in China, this book analyzes the gendered and gendering aspects of labor, reveals the different processes of precarization among workers, and discusses the role of the diverse intermediaries who both sustain workers' livelihoods and reproduce their precarity.

‘Young and Restless in China is a well-written ethnography that captures both the transient lives of the Sanhe gods and the pervading precarization of migrant workers amid China’s recent socioeconomic transformations. It is essential reading not only for scholars of labor and urban studies in China but also for those interested in youth, precarity, and anti-work within global contexts.’

Yukun Zeng Source: The Journal of Asian Studies

‘Through extensive fieldwork, Hou illuminates the nuanced experiences of a new generation of migrant workers, the 'Great Gods of Sanhe,' navigating the precariousness of labor, identity, and masculinity in the shadow of societal and economic upheaval. This book provides a groundbreaking perspective on the precariat, debunking conventional dichotomies and unveiling the extensive consequences of precarious employment in modern China.’

Yuhua Wang - Professor of Government at Harvard University

‘Xiaoshuo Hou has produced a smart and refreshingly original study of China’s second-generation migrants who eke out a precarious living in the informal sector, defying social norms, state control, and capitalistic work discipline. Through vivid storytelling and authentic voices revealed in immersive fieldwork, Hou critiques and revitalizes the narrative surrounding China's rural-to-urban migrants. Hou writes with empathy, compassion, and a keen eye for details. She paints a vivid tapestry of Sanhe Gods’ daily struggles and triumphs while exposing the harshness and mundanity of an ecosystem stacked against them, showing how the migrants live out their precarity in defiant, sometimes self-destructive, but always spirited ways. It is only when we juxtapose reading Hou’s book with the government’s Work Report and consultants’ business forecast that we begin to understand the real China.’

Lei Guang - UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy