A People’s War Against COVID 19: Unmasking the Governing Power in China

The State of Cities- #CityConversations with Prof Xiangming Chen and Dr Ziming Li on A People’s War Against COVID 19: Unmasking the Governing Power in China

Center for Habitat, Urban and Regional Studies (CHURS), IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi invites you to

The State of Cities – #CityConversations

A People’s War Against COVID 19: Unmasking the Governing Power in China

Details of the #WebPolicyTalk:
Date: May 28, 2021
Time: 7:00 PM IST
Platform: Zoom and Facebook Live

Speakers:

Prof Xiangming Chen
Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Global Urban Studies and Sociology, Center for Urban and Global Studies (CUGS), Trinity College, USA

Dr Ziming Li
Assistant Professor, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

Moderator:

Dr Soumaydip Chattopadhyay
Associate Professor, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan; Senior Fellow, IMPRI, New Delhi

Discussants:

Prof Jagan Shah
Senior Infrastructure Adviser, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), British High Commission (BHC); Former Director, National Institute of Urban Affair (NIUA), New Delhi

Dr Shubhagato Dasgupta
Director, Scaling City Institutions for India (Sci-Fi) Sanitation initiative, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi

Prof Xuefei Ren
Professor, Sociology and Global Urban Studies, Michigan State University, United States

Prof Tathagata Chatterjee
Professor, Urban Planning and Governance, Xavier University, Bhubaneswar

Registration and Facebook Live Link for A People’s War Against COVID 19: Unmasking the Governing Power in China

Abstract of the Talk

Ziming Li, Xiangming Chen

As COVID-19 has spread around the world and left trails of severe human, health, and economic destructions, it has generated varied responses from national and municipal governments and revealed both strengths and shortfalls of their governance capacities. The original epicenter in China, Wuhan has suppressed the virus quickly, stayed virus-free, and returned to normal life fully.

Against the prevailing view that China’s mitigation approach was an expected outcome of an authoritarian system, we go back and deep into the cumulative research on China’s reformed governance to reveal its traditional and evolving vertical and flexible horizontal mechanisms as the key to defeating COVID-19.

This governance capacity has defeated COVID-19’s onslaught on the local medical infrastructure, fostered a level of trust between government and society through collective response to the health crisis, implemented an effective phased strategy for returning to normal, and mobilized the grassroots to effectively prevent a new outbreak from other cities and aboard. China’s unified response to the pandemic has provided an opportunity to assess the pros and cons of top-bottom mobilization and the evolution in China’s community governance in mitigating and controlling a grave crisis.

In order to draw lessons for more resilient governance that can better respond to future crises under different regimes globally, we make the China-Italy (Hubei-Lombardy) and Wuhan-Milan Comparison(s) on Covid-19 Responses.

The lessons in China imply that effective national response depends on a powerful and persistent center, a geographically confined epicentre, a committed and effective local and grassroots leadership, and a trustful, satisfied (hierarchical), and conforming citizenry.

The international implications are at three aspects.

• Some kind of coordinated and adaptable national response is key.
• Regional planning for equalizing infrastructure, power rescaling and governmental cooperation across cities.
• China is repositioning herself as a leading force of post-pandemic globalization via the BRI.

Finally, we will lead open discussions by proposing four questions to audiences.

• How will India turn out through the current wave?
• Where will the Global South be on the other side?
• As a scholar or official, what will you do for your people?
• What are/will be the fruitful areas of China-India comparative studies on pandemic responses and beyond?

YouTube Event Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAG6-LXUlro

Facebook Live Video:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=external&v=1155700001541736

Event Report:

A People’s War Against COVID 19: Unmasking the Governing Power in China

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