From mid-2000s on, Chinese capitalism has experienced a profound crisis. The export-oriented growth regime that had driven its economic miracle gradually lost momentum, while social, labor, and environmental crisis have proliferated. In response, the Chinese government has since embarked on a new developmental project to overcome the crisis by resorting to digital and high technologies to upgrade its economy while preserving social and political stability. In The Gilded Cage, Lei characterized the project in terms of techno-development.

The Gilded Cage provides an almost panoramic review of the project, examining how it has unfolded so far, the evolving state-capital relationships, the responses of workers, as well as the inherent contradictions that may impede its development. The scope of techno-development is immensely broad. Yet Lei's book does a great job, not least with its remarkably rich, diverse, and substantive data. The book is based on her multiyear fieldwork across China. And evidence she was able to amass include fieldnotes and in-depth interviews with a wide range of stakeholders from retired central government officials and local officials, to economist and managers/executives of manufacturers, to digital platforms and IT companies, to rank-and-file workers across these sectors. This is complemented by extensive secondary s