The modern cityscapes of Shanghai and Beijing, which today seem to crystallize Chinese dreams of modernity and global status, are underpinned by a construction industry steeped in a culture of violence. This culture arises from the political economy of the industry and from the politics of labor resistance among migrant construction workers. The rapid development of the industry has enabled a highly exploitative labor subcontracting system to emerge, characterized both by the rapid commodification of labor through non-industrial social relations organized through a quasi–labor market in the rural villages and by the expropriation of labor during the production process of the construction sector in urban areas. These two processes shape a labor subcontracting system that results in a never- ending process of wage arrears and the struggle of construction workers to pursue delayed wages in various ways, often involving violent collective action.