[T]ens of millions of workers and their families…lives were thrown into turmoil during the wholesale, shock therapy-style privatization of SOEs [state-owned enterprises] carried out in China in the late 1990s and early 2000s…In this report we follow five illustrative cases, dealt with under CLB’s Labour Rights Litigation Project, that track the typical trajectory of SOE restructuring or forced bankruptcy, leading to collective labour dispute, worker protest, and arbitrary detention or criminal trial. [refers to Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory, Tieshu Textile Factory, Liaoning Cotton and Hemp Company, Tianyuan Holdings]