context: A quick look at how Shanghai’s ‘worker aristocracy’ got played. Wang Hongwen armed them to be his personal army, but when the Gang of Four fell in 1976, the workers decided not to die for him. Then Jiang Zemin needed them to keep students from causing trouble in ’86 and ’89, and they were all in. Finally, Zhu Rongji’s 1998 reforms ended their cushy status, leaving them out of a job. The shocked cat says it all.