The first of two online half-day workshops to examine China’s experience of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Chinese authorities’ have been criticized for their handling of the pandemic: for lack of transparency in the early weeks, for the stringent lockdown of the city of Wuhan, and later for “vaccine diplomacy”. Yet China remains the only large country that has successfully contained the virus. It currently has one of the lowest death rates from Covid-19 in the world and appears committed to a “zero tolerance” approach aimed at eradicating outbreaks.

These two workshops will consider what we have learned about China’s handling of Covid-19 and will include presentations from the research project “Covid-19: Understanding Chinese Government’s Containment Measures and their Societal Impacts”. The SCCR are keen to bring together researchers working on this subject around the world to present their work and facilitate in-depth discussion of what we know so far. Presentations will be short but should be based on a research paper circulated to participants before or shortly after the workshops.

We are open to research that explores all aspects of China’s handling of the pandemic. We are particularly interested in papers on government and politics, social media and communications more generally, and the societal impacts of Covid-19 in China, as well as papers that address the question of what lessons can be learned from China’s handling of the pandemic.

Please submit your abstract of no more than 300 words to Hua.Wang@glasgow.ac.uk by 5 January 2022. Applicants will be informed of decisions by 12 January. The SCCR is committed to equality and diversity and welcomes submissions from early career researchers.