Crisis

Title Page -- Copyright and Imprint Information -- Contents -- Introduction -- The Year of Crisis -- Acknowledgements -- The Cover Image -- Forum · Standing on a Precipice -- The Etymology of the Character of Wei 危 -- Chapter 1 -- The Construction of Political Superiority -- Forum · Masks and Wolves -- Mask Diplomacy: Shifting the COVID-19 Narrative? -- The Rise and Fall of the Wolf Warriors -- Chapter 2 -- Beating the Virus in the Chinese Countryside -- Forum · Down and Out in Hong Kong -- Hong Kong's National Security Law -- Waste and the Elderly Working Poor in Hong Kong -- Chapter 3 -- Women's Bodies, Intimate Politics, and Feminist Consciousness Amid COVID-19 -- Forum · Cultural Communication -- The Language of Trust -- Chapter 4 -- The Chinese Economy: Crisis, Control, Recovery, Refocus -- Forum · Coping Through Laughter and Prayer -- Humour in Crisis -- The Power of Compassion: The Buddhist Approach to COVID-19 -- Chapter 5 -- China's Post-COVID-19 Stimulus: Dark Clouds, Green Lining -- Forum · Broken River Shattered Mountain -- The Three Gorges Dam: A Deluge of Doubts -- Chapter 6 -- The Future Repeats Itself: COVID-19 and Its Historical Comorbidities -- Forum · Plan for Difficulty -- The Dao of Crisis -- Chapter 7 -- US-China Relations: A Lingering Crisis -- Forum · Difficult Choices -- Taiwan's Search for a Grand Strategy -- Malaysia: Taking No Side but Its Own -- Chapter 8 -- The Sino-Indian Border Crisis: Chinese Perceptions of Indian Nationalism -- Forum · Of Mao and Money -- Chinese Loans to Africa: Trap or Treasure? -- Off the Prachanda Path: Nepali Communists' Crisis of Legitimacy -- Chapter 9 -- Economic Power and Vulnerability in Sino-Australian Relations -- Forum · Playing the Game? -- China and the Multilateral Trading System: Misunderstandings, Criticisms, and Options -- Chapter 10.

Introduction. The Year of Crisis/ Linda Jaivin -- Forum: Standing on a Precipice. The Etymology of the Character of Wei / Jingjing Chen -- ch. 1. The Construction of Political Superiority / Delia Lin -- Forum: Masks and Wolves. Mask Diplomacy: Shifting the COVID-19 Narrative?/ Verónica Fraile Del Álamo and Darren J. Lim ; The Rise and Fall of the Wolf Warriors/ Yun Jiang -- ch. 2. Beating the Virus in the Chinese Countryside / Wuna Reilly -- Forum. Down and Out in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's National Security Law / Antony Dapiran ; Waste and the Elderly Working Poor in Hong Kong / Trang X. Ta -- ch. 3. Women's Bodies, Intimate Politics, and Feminist Consciousness Amid COVID-19 / Pan Wang -- Forum: Cultural Communication. The Language of Trust / Gerald Roche -- ch. 4. The Chinese Economy: Crisis, Control, Recovery, Refocus / Jane Golley and James Laurenceson -- Forum: Coping Through Laughter and Prayer. Humour in Crisis / Linda Jaivin ; The Power of Compassion: The Buddhist Approach to COVID-19 / Yu Sang -- ch. 5. China's Post-COVID-19 Stimulus: Dark Clouds, Green Lining / Jorrit Gosens -- Forum: Broken River Shattered Mountain. The Three Gorges Dam: A Deluge of Doubts / Annie Luman Ren-- ch. 6. The Future Repeats Itself: COVID-19 and Its Historical Comorbidities / Ari Larissa Heinrich -- Forum: Plan for Difficulty. The Dao of Crisis / Esther Sunkyung Klein -- ch. 7. US-China Relations: A Lingering Crisis / Nadège Rolland -- Forum: Difficult Choices. Taiwan's Search for a Grand Strategy / Wen-Ti Sung ; Malaysia: Taking No Side but Its Own / Xu Cheng Chong -- ch. 8. The Sino-Indian Border Crisis: Chinese Perceptions of Indian Nationalism / Andrew Chubb -- Forum: Of Mao and Money. Chinese Loans to Africa: Trap or Treasure? / Beyongo Mukete Dynamic ; Off the Prachanda Path: Nepali Communists' Crisis of Legitimacy / Matthew Galway -- ch. 9. Economic Power and Vulnerability in Sino-Australian Relations / Victor Ferguson and Darren J. Lim -- Forum: Playing the Game? China and the Multilateral Trading System: Misunderstandings, Criticisms, and Options / Weihuan Zhou -- ch. 10. Chinese Students Abroad in the Time of Pandemic: An Australian View / Yu Tao.

The year 2020 was marked by a series of rolling crises. The Australian wildfires at the start of the year were a catastrophic sign of the global climate crisis. Xi Jinping's announcement in September that the People's Republic of China would become carbon neutral by 2060 could help alleviate the crisis, but China has to fix its coal problem first. The big story was, of course, the global COVID-19 pandemic. Appearing to originate in a Wuhan wet market, by year's end the pandemic had claimed nearly 2 million lives worldwide, put whole countries into lockdown, and sent economies around the world tumbling into recession. China itself successfully suppressed the disease at home and recorded positive economic growth for the year — proving, at least according to the Chinese Communist Party, the 'superiority of the socialist system'. Not everyone was convinced, with persistent questions about the CCP's initial cover up of the outbreak, and how the lack of transparency helped it become a pandemic in the first place. The China Story Yearbook 2020: Crisis surveys the multiple crises of the year of the Metal Rat, including the catastrophic mid-year floods that sparked fears about the stability of the Three Gorges Dam. It looks at how Chinese women fared through the pandemic, from the rise in domestic violence to portraits of female sacrifice on the medical front line to the trolling of a famous dancer for being childless. It also examines the downward-spiralling Sino-Australian relationship, the difficult 'co-morbidities' of China's relations with the US, the end of 'One Country, Two Systems' in Hong Kong, the simmering border conflict with India, and the rise of pandemic-related anti-Chinese racism. The Yearbook also explores the responses to crisis of, among others, Daoists, Buddhists, and humourists — because when all else fails, there's always philosophy, prayer, and laughter.