How did Wuhan residents cope with a 76-day lockdown?

Abstract

Wuhan, the original epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, was under strict lockdown for 76 days. We conducted 30 in-depth interviews to understand Wuhan residents’ lived experiences of lockdown life. We found that despite strong emotions initially, Wuhan residents quickly adapted to life under unprecedented lockdown. We identified three pre-existing structures that facilitated the effective implementation of the massive lockdown: ready-made containment units offered by urban “gated” housing, a comprehensive grassroots governance network coordinated by shequ (community residence committees), and the ubiquitous WeChat app in Chinese daily life. We also showed that the pre-existing structures provided space for uncontentious self-organizing, grassroots mobilization, and civic engagement that often dove-tailed with state-mandated measures. This study details the resources Wuhan residents drew upon to get by during the lockdown, and it illustrates that the feasibility of lockdown measures relies heavily on a society’s structural and institutional conditions.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Siqi Xiao, Xueqing Zhang, Yushu Deng, and Zhijing Shi for their excellent research assistance. The authors also extend their deep appreciation to the participants who generously gave their time and shared their experiences for this research.

Notes

1 Wuhan City Novel Coronavirus Prevention and Control Command Center Announcement (No. 9), accessed on August 30, 2020 at http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-01/25/content_5472165.htm

2 Wuhan City Novel Coronavirus Prevention and Control Command Center Announcement (No. 7), accessed on August 30, 2020 at http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-01/24/content_5472017.htm

3 Wuhan City Novel Coronavirus Prevention and Control Command Center Announcement (No. 8), accessed on August 30, 2020 at http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-01/24/content_5472045.htm

Additional information

Funding

Yue Qian and Amy Hanser acknowledge funding support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research through the Operating Grant: Canadian 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Rapid Research Funding Opportunity [Funding #: OV7-170372].

Notes on contributors

Yue Qian

Yue Qian is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests focus on social demography, family, and gender. Specifically, she has been studying how gender intersects with family and population processes, such as assortative mating, divisions of labor, and migration, to shape individual wellbeing and social inequality. She has conducted research on both East Asia and North America. Her research has appeared in the American Sociological Review, Journal of Marriage and Family, and Social Science & Medicine.

Amy Hanser

Amy Hanser is an associate professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research has focused upon numerous aspects of contemporary Chinese society, including gender and employment, motherhood and social class, social inequality, consumerism, and urban China. Her recent publications have appeared in The China Quarterly, The China Journal and The Journal of Chinese Sociology. She is author of Service Encounters: Class, Gender and the Market for Social Distinction in Urban China (Stanford, 2008).