Citizen–State Collaboration in Combating COVID-19 in China: Experiences and Lessons From the Perspective of Co-Production

• Date: 01 August 2020
• Published date: 01 August 2020
• Author: Ting Zhao,Zhongsheng Wu
• DOI: 10.1177/0275074020942455
• Subject Matter: Comparative Governance During COVID-19: Lessons From Around the WorldComparative Management & Learning Techniques

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020942455

American Review of Public Administration

2020, Vol. 50(6-7) 777 –783

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074020942455

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Comparative Management & Learning Techniques

China’s experiences and lessons in fighting against the virus

may provide implications for other nations for the following

reasons: (1) So far China has achieved preliminary success in

combating the virus across the country, although the weak and

slow responses in the early stage by provincial and city govern-

ments in Wuhan made the war more difficult to win. Chinese

people now start to return to work, and people’s life are getting

back to normal. (2) Compared with the situation in Italy, Spain,

and the United States, some key official indicators, such as total

confirmed cases and mortality rate in China, are much lower,

although we acknowledge that there might be more COVID-

19-related death cases than are officially confirmed.

China’s fighting against the epidemic started from Wuhan,

the capital city of Hubei province. According to the official

reports, people got infected in Wuhan city at the end of

December 2019. On January 23, 2020, Wuhan, a city with

more than 10 million population was officially locked down,

just 2 days before the Chinese Lunar New Year. The central

government soon sent an inspection team to Wuhan, and then

set up emergency response task force headquarters in Wuhan

City, which became the new authority center. The central

government has mobilized medical aid teams from all over

the country to assist in Wuhan and other parts of Hubei

province, including more than 42,600 doctors and nurses

according to incomplete statistics. It is a rare phenomenon in

the Chinese history that residents were mobilized to follow

stay-at-home orders, and all visits to relatives and friends

during the Spring Festival were canceled. On April 8, Wuhan

was reopened, indicating the preliminary success in the war

fighting against COVID-19. Whereas, what happened in

Wuhan and other parts of the country during the war against

the virus? How did social forces respond and interact with

the governments in winning the war? Specifically, from the

perspective of co-production and citizen–state interaction,

how did the Chinese citizens and governments collaborate to

combat COVID-19? What experiences and lessons can be

learned from China’s war against the virus?

942455ARPXXX10.1177/0275074020942455The American Review of Public AdministrationZhao and Wu

research-article2020

1East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai, China

2University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

*The authors contributed equally to and share equal authorship of this article

Corresponding Author:

Zhongsheng Wu, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, College

Park, 2101 Van Munching Hall College Park, MD 20742, USA.

Email: zswujack2012@gmail.com

Citizen–State Collaboration in

Combating COVID-19 in China:

Experiences and Lessons From the

Perspective of Co-Production

Ting Zhao1 and Zhongsheng Wu2*

Abstract

From the perspective of co-production, this article examines how Chinese citizens and governments worked together in

fighting against COVID-19 in a health emergency context. Based on observations, as well as analyses of policy documents

and self-organization cases, this article shows that Chinese citizens and governments collaborated through three different

channels in fighting against the virus, but different channels produced different results. First, through residential committees,

Chinese governments successfully mobilized most citizens to comply with stay-at-home orders, contact traced and isolated

suspected cases through existing networks within the communities. Second, as a formal channel for state–society interaction

during the crisis, government-organized nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) failed in bridging demands of the health

system and contributions from citizens. Third, self-organizations emerged as a key informal channel for citizens to fight

against the virus. The experiences and lessons learned in this citizen–government collaboration in combating the virus may

offer some implications for other settings.

Keywords

citizen–government collaboration, co-production, nonprofit organization, self-organization, China, COVID-19