List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Preface
Introduction: Remembering the COVID-19 Pandemic
Yida Zhai and Cary Wu
Part I. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Individuals’ Physical and Mental Health
1 Introduction to the Health Section
Cary Wu
2 Stigma, Perceived Discrimination, and Mental Health: A Mixed-Methods Investigation
Wen Fan, Yue Qian, and Yongai Jin
3 Exposure, Perceived risk, and Psychological Distress among General Population during Wuhan’s Lockdowns
Yujun Liu, Linping Liu, and Zhilei Shi
4 Changing Trends of Mental and Behavioral Responses and Associations: A Panel Study
Xiaozhao Yousef Yang, Sihui Peng, Tingzhong Yang, and Randall R. Cottrell
5 Effects of Changes in Physical and Sedentary Behaviors on Mental Health and Life Satisfaction
Xi Chen, Haiyan Gao, Binbin Shu, and Yuchun Zou
6 Food Insecurity and Mental Health during Shanghai’s Lockdowns
Guanghua Han and Yida Zhai
Part II. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children, Fertility, and Family
7 Introduction to the Family Section
Cary Wu
8 Vulnerability and Resilience during COVID-19: Family Resources and Children’s Psychological Well-being
Ruochen Zhang, Yao Lu, and Haifeng Du
9 Family-mediated Migration Infrastructure: Chinese International Students and Parents Navigating (Im)mobilities
Yang Hu, Cora Lingling Xu, and Mengwei Tu
10 The Impact of Covid-19 on Fertility Intentions: Empirical Evidence from China’s Covid-19 Epicenter
Min Zhou and Wei Guo
11 The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Fertility Intentions under the Three-Child Policy
Zhilei Shi and Xi Shao
12 Who is Exercising at Home? Unequal Exercise Patterns during COVID-19
Chloe Sher
Part III. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Income, Employment, and Consumption
13 Introduction to the Economic Section
Yida Zhai
14 China’s Dynamic Covid-Zero Policy and the Chinese Economy
Kerry Liu
15 Who Loses Income during the COVID-19 Outbreak?
Yue Qian and Wen Fan
16 The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Wages and Household Income in Poor Rural China
Wenjin Long, Junxia Zeng, and Tongquan Sun
17 Precarity and Mobility: Chinese Female Migrant Labor under the Shadow of COVID-19
Lu Zhang
18 The Impact of the COVID‑19 Pandemic on Chinese Households’ Housing Consumption
Chunyan He, Jinlu Lv, Ding Li, and Siyu Wu
Part IV. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Life
19 Introduction to the Social Section
Cary Wu
20 How Did Wuhan Residents Cope with a 76-day Lockdown?
Yue Qian and Amy Hanser
21 Interdependent Care: Collective Disability Care Networks in China’s COVID-19 Outbreak
Shixin Huang
22 State-crafted Social Capital and Policy Compliance: China’s Zero-COVID Governance
Tianye Jin, Karl Yan, Haojiu Liu, and Angran Li
23 Surveillance as Solution in Pandemic-era China
Jun Liu and Hui Zhao
24 Social Capital and COVID-19 in China: Forms, Levels, and Contextual Dynamics
Cary Wu
Part V. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Media and Information Manipulation
25 Introduction to the Media Section
Yida Zhai
26 Framing Pandemics: Continuities and Challenges in China’s Outbound Crisis Communication
Zhan Zhang
27 Shaping Nationalism: Media Use and Trust in China
Dechun Zhang and Yuji Xu
28 A Discourse Study of Weibo Nationalist Responses to Fang Fang’s Wuhan Lockdown Diary
Shiru Wang, Daan Wang, and Yuk Tai Siu
29 “We Should All Be Grateful to President Xi and the Party”: Continuity and Changes of Chinese Government Discourse
Jason Cong Lin
30 Pandemic and Memory: Online Memory Narratives of COVID-19 Survivors
Yi Yang
Part VI. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Legitimacy and Governance
31 Introduction to the Political Section
Yida Zhai
32 China’s Zero-COVID Campaign and the Body Politic
Dali L. Yang
33 Domestic Contestation, International Backlash, and Authoritarian Resilience: How the Chinese Party-state Weathered the COVID-19 Crisis?
Xiangfeng Yang
34 Embedded Authoritarianism in the Xi Era: China’s COVID-19 Response
Stefanie Kam
35 The Rally Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the White Paper Movement
Yue Guan, Lei Guang, Lianjiang Li, and Yanchuan Liu
36 Affective Lockdown: Administrative Chaos and Informal Repairing
Yan Long and Wei Luo
37 The Political Logic of China’s Zero-COVID Policy
Yida Zhai
Index
Biography
Yida Zhai is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. His research interests include political psychology, political sociology, and Asian comparative politics. He is the author of The Political Psychology of Citizens in Rising China and co-author of State, Society, and COVID-19 in East Asia.
Cary Wu is York Research Chair in Political Sociology of Health and Associate Professor of Sociology at York University, Canada. His research focusing on trust and political sociology of health has appeared in journals including BioScience, Daedalus, and Social Science & Medicine.
“From mental health and family dynamics to economic inequality and political mobilization, this handbook provides an unprecedented, multidisciplinary examination of China’s COVID-19 experience. Its rigorous documentation of both personal suffering and state overreach makes it essential reading for understanding authoritarian pandemic governance—and preserving a more complete account of this critical period.”
Timothy Hildebrandt, Associate Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science Co-editor, The China Quarterly
“At a time when collective memory of COVID-19 fades, this comprehensive volume fills a crucial knowledge gap in pandemic scholarship. Through rigorous, interdisciplinary analysis spanning health, social, political, and media dimensions, it creates an authoritative account that critically examines official narratives and preserves essential truths about how ordinary people and the state navigated this unprecedented crisis.”
Yanzhong Huang, Professor and Director of Global Health Studies, Seton Hall University Senior Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations
“Through its comprehensive scope and analytical rigor, this book connects the lived experiences of ordinary Chinese citizens with the broader institutional and political forces that shaped their reality. It is an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand how China, and the world, confronted one of the most transformative public health crises of our time.”
Xiaogang Wu, Yufeng Global Professor of Social Science and Professor of Sociology, NYU Shanghai and New York University
