Introduces the concept of rightful resistance and explains how it operates in rural China. Focusing on ways in which the powerless work a political system by exploiting the gap between rights promised and rights delivered, the authors highlight how evidence from China and social movement theory can speak to each other. They also consider the mixture of top-down reform and social pressure that is changing China, and ask: does reform have some way to go, or is the engine for change becoming rightful resistance and more disruptive forms of contention?