Beijing , China ( CNN ) -- Hardly a day has gone by this year without news coming from China of mass protests , labor strikes or violent attacks . In a country where strikes and protests are taboo , these are bold , desperate actions by Chinese angry over low wages , land-grabs , abuse from officials , corruption , worsening pollution and other bread-and-butter issues . The Chinese labor front has been particularly uneasy . On May 17 , more than 1,800 workers at a factory in southern Guangdong , which supplies parts for Honda Motors , went on strike , demanding better pay . After a two-week standoff , they won . Their victory has been contagious . Walkouts have paralyzed several factories across China , including three other plants that supply auto parts to Honda Motors . Foxconn , a huge Taiwanese-owned manufacturing group which produces parts for Apple , Sony and other companies , announced generous pay increases after a series of worker suicides this year put the spotlight on the plight of migrant Chinese workers . Chinese manufacturers face labor upheaval . Although China has emerged from the financial crisis stronger than most , it has not escaped economic and social disruptions . China is now grappling with a rise in social unrest , and the Chinese leadership is taking it seriously . Zhou Yongkang , a top communist party official in charge of peace and order , acknowledges that `` a wide range of social conflicts have occurred recently '' and calls for `` down-to-earth measures . '' Foxconn firm seeks answers to rash of worker suicides . Speaking at a meeting in Beijing , Zhou said : `` Improving people 's livelihoods should be the starting and end point of all our work . People should be able to share the fruits of the reform and development . '' But not everyone has . Since China introduced market reforms in 1978 , economic growth has averaged more than 9 percent every year and per capita income has more than quadrupled . Prospering the most are the booming coastal provinces , where shiny skyscrapers boast malls teeming with well-heeled shoppers . But in the rural interior , tens of millions of Chinese still live in poverty . Beneath the glowing statistics , China 's leap to prosperity has left millions of its citizens behind . Seeking a better life , millions of farmers have left the land to seek work in the cities . According to 2009 figures from the State Statistics Bureau there were almost 230 million migrant workers in China . Over the past three decades , they came in waves , working long hours in sweatshops , construction sites and assembly plants , enduring poor working conditions in order to save a little cash to remit home . They are the unsung heroes of the Chinese economic miracle . But the second generation of China 's migrant workers is a different breed . `` Their parents have lived through hardship and poverty , but the younger generation has seen nothing but economic growth and they feel they should benefit from the economic progress , '' says Wenran Jiang , political science professor at University of Alberta in Edmonton , Canada . `` They will not put up with poor working conditions , work-related stress and low wages . '' Officials are now trying to pacify them . Without specifically commenting on the recent labor disputes , Premier Wen Jiabao urged better treatment for China 's young migrant workers . Speaking to a group of young workers at a subway construction site in Beijing , he praised their work as `` a glorious thing '' and called on the government and society to `` treat them as their own children . '' Wen 's soothing remarks may be taken as an indication of how seriously the leadership regards a restive population . `` I think the government is very concerned about the unrest spreading and causing further disruptions , '' says Drew Thompson , a China expert at the Nixon Center in Washington DC . `` The workers ' uprising undermines the Communist Party 's legitimacy to some degree and that is most worrisome to the leadership . The restrictions on reporting on strikes and workers ' dissatisfaction reflect that unease . '' Authorities have so far allowed workers at the Honda plants to organize and agitate for better pay , but workers say the police are keeping them under close watch . Wary of the possible emergence of Solidarity-style independent trade unions in China , China 's leaders are tightening controls in the political spheres as well . `` The new regulations increasing oversight of foreign funding for Chinese NGOs is an example of how ubiquitous government oversight is , '' says Thomson of The Nixon Center . `` One could argue that the government might be over-doing it to preempt turmoil , and in trying to exert complete control , it is eliminating checks and balances and other safety valves that allow the public to vent their frustration . '' At the annual meeting of China 's legislature in March , Premier Wen had promised to address the issue of social justice and the yawning gap between the rich and the poor . Shifting away from the growth-at-any-cost model that has prevailed over the past three decades , he promised more efforts on redressing the inequality and social tension that market reforms have engendered . One institution that is in place to help smooth labor disputes is the All-China Federation of Trade Unions ( AFTU ) , an officially sanctioned labor union . Chinese leaders have called on official labor unions to do a better job of representing workers . But striking workers at the Honda plant in southern Guangdong said they distrusted the official unions as pro-management , not pro-workers . Instead of relying on the factory 's official union , each department elected two workers ' representatives who negotiated on their behalf the wage hike that they wished . Analysts say the AFTU now faces the choice of changing into a genuine workers ' union or remaining marginalized .
China 's leadership are grappling with a rise in social unrest among the workforce . Since market reforms introduced in 1978 , the leap to prosperity has left millions behind . Migrant workers are refusing to put up with poor working conditions and low wages . Communist Party leadership worried discontent could spread , undermine its legitimacy .