Who We Are

A non-governmental organization founded in Hong Kong in 1994, China Labour Bulletin has grown from a small monitoring and research group into a proactive outreach organization that seeks to defend and promote the rights of workers in China. We have extensive links and wide-ranging co-operative programs with labour groups, law firms and academics throughout China, as well as with the international labour movement.

Through these programs, we support the development of democratically-run trade unions, encourage respect for and enforcement of the country’s labour laws, as well as the full participation of workers in the creation of civil society. We seek the official recognition in China of international standards and conventions providing for workers’ freedom of association and the right to free collective bargaining.

CLB founder and director Han Dongfang (韩东方) has been an advocate for workers’ rights in China for more than two decades. He first came to international prominence when, as a railway worker in Beijing, he helped set up China’s first independent trade union, the Beijing Autonomous Workers’ Federation (BAWF), during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. He was expelled to Hong Kong in 1993; where the following year he set up CLB. In addition to his work at CLB, Han is on the board of Human Rights in China, and conducts regular interviews with Chinese workers on Radio Free Asia.

Deputy Director Robin Munro is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading experts on human rights in China. He has published numerous books and articles including Dangerous Minds, a ground-breaking study of political psychiatry in China.

Cai Chongguo (蔡崇国) has worked in Europe for many years as CLB’s international liaison officer working closely with trade union and labour groups in Europe and across the world. He is currently CLB's deputy director for program work.

Communications Director Geoffrey Crothall manages CLB’s websites and is the organization’s spokesman. He first worked in China in 1984, and spent five years in the 1990s as the South China Morning Post Correspondent in Beijing. CLB's Chinese website is edited by Hong Kong University masters graduate, Jennifer Cheung, who also has a blog on the English website.

Our fund raising and development work is managed by William Nee, who has lived and worked in China for more than a decade, and is an acknowledged authority on Corporate Social Responsibility. Valerie Nichols provides in invaluable assistance in tracking our progress so far and mapping out our future.

CLB’s numerous research reports are written by labour relations experts and academics from mainland China and Hong Kong. And our labour rights litigation program is run by a team of mainland-trained lawyers, who, in addition, provide expert analysis of China’s current and proposed labour laws.

Our Hong Kong office is administered by the experienced team of Finance Director Estella Chun, and administrative officer Tiffany Chong.