Details

ISBN-10: 0231200471
ISBN-13: 9780231200479
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publish Date: 02/15/2022
Dimensions: 8.90" L, 5.90" W, 0.80" H

The Wuhan Lockdown

Paperback

Price: $28.00

Overview

A metropolis with a population of about 11 million, Wuhan sits at the crossroads of China. It was here that in the last days of 2019, the first reports of a mysterious new form of pneumonia emerged. Before long, an abrupt and unprecedented lockdown was declared–the first of many such responses to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world.

This book tells the dramatic story of the Wuhan lockdown in the voices of the city’s own people. Using a vast archive of more than 6,000 diaries, the sociologist Guobin Yang vividly depicts how the city coped during the crisis. He analyzes how the state managed–or mismanaged–the lockdown and explores how Wuhan’s residents responded by taking on increasingly active roles. Yang demonstrates that citizen engagement–whether public action or the civic inaction of staying at home–was essential in the effort to fight the pandemic. The book features compelling stories of citizens and civic groups in their struggle against COVID-19: physicians, patients, volunteers, government officials, feminist organizers, social media commentators, and even aunties loudly swearing at party officials. These snapshots from the lockdown capture China at a critical moment, revealing the intricacies of politics, citizenship, morality, community, and digital technology. Presenting the extraordinary experiences of ordinary people, The Wuhan Lockdown is an unparalleled account of the first moments of the crisis that would define the age.

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Reviews
The Wuhan Lockdown documents ordinary people's lives, sentiments, and activities during the pandemic in such an engaging and immersive fashion that when reading the manuscript, I felt like I was watching a documentary. This book allowed me to relive what people in Wuhan have gone through the pandemic. It is truly incredible how timely it is.–Rongbin Han, author of Contesting Cyberspace in China: Online Expression and Authoritarian Resilience
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Details

ISBN-10: 0231200471
ISBN-13: 9780231200479
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publish Date: 02/15/2022
Dimensions: 8.90" L, 5.90" W, 0.80" H
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