Toleration is an in-depth case study about Chinese industrial relations in a third line enterprise.Focusing on the workers’ daily lives and work experiences，this book uncovers the social and political structures in a third line factory by paying particular attention to the workers’ bargaining power on the shop floor.The author argues that during the period of the planned economy，relations between managers and workers in Chinese SOEs did not have a strong or weak one-dimensional logic.Due to the permanent employment system，the workers’ flexible control over production，the factories’ geographic isolation as well as the diverse composition of the workers，managers were more likely to tolerate rather than to punish worker“misbehavior.”Using absenteeism in the factory as an example，the author shows that it is misleading to place an analysis of worker absenteeism in a simple“state versus individual”framework.It should be considered as resistance to policy adjustments and as a loss of personal interests.As part of the workers’ everyday life，the reasons for the formation of absenteeism should be understood through more in-depth case analyses from both structural and cultural perspectives.