The number of migrant worker deputies attending the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing has increased tenfold from just three last year to 31 deputies this year. However, that still represents little more than one percent of the total number of NPC deputies or about one deputy for every eight million migrant workers. Photograph of the Great Hall of the People by Amanda and Andy availabe at flickr.com under a creative commons license.

For business leaders attending a “small and medium-sized enterprise summit” in Guangzhou last weekend, it was very much a tale of two business models, the traditional “made in China” model and the newer more innovative “create in China” model.

During his concert tour of Hong Kong last week, “New Worker” Sun Heng once again called the public’s attention to the threatened closure of the Tongxin Primary School for the children of migrant workers, which he helped set up on a deserted factory site on the outskirts of Beijing in 2005.

The suspicious death of Chinese labour activist Li Wangyang on 6 June has triggered a wave of anger and massive demonstrations here in Hong Kong, putting pressure on the Chinese government for a special investigation into his death and the torture he suffered during his 21 years’ in prison.