SARS In the spring of 2003 SARS prompted the first global health alert of the twenty-first century. Hardest hit were the three metropole cities of Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei where residents confronted not only threats to their health and material well-being, but also to the vitality and resilience of their societies. Patients with a virus that resisted known therapies overwhelmed hospitals and frontline medical workers and as the disease unpredictably spread to communities and inflicted fatalities, collective trauma mounted. Quarantine practices of medieval Europe ultimately halted the outbreak. Multidisciplinary in its approach, SARS explores the medical, social, and political challenges posed by the epidemic. Focusing on the political dimen- sions of historical geography, media communications, and popular culture, the case studies chronicle how residents of the three cities, whose fortunes are linked by uneasy historical memories and a vibrant global economy, find themselves abruptly drawing hard lines against porous borders. The volume raises issues pertaining to global politics and regional security, public health and democratic processes, civil society and public culture formation, the role of media in social crises, institutional integrity, and individual agency. Contributors drawn from anthropology, journalism, medicine, and sociology examine the SARS outbreak as representative of the multiple contra- dictions among contagion, connectivity, and disjuncture that characterize our contemporary world. With avian flu looming over the horizon, the volume focuses attention on diverse human responses, critical self-reflection, and possible steps to meet future challenges. Deborah Davis is Professor of Sociology at Yale University. Helen Siu is Professor of Anthropology at Yale University. Routledge Contemporary China Series 1 Nationalism, Democracy and 9 Narrating China National Integration in China Jia Pingwa and his fictional world Leong Liew and Wang Shaoguang Yiyan Wang 2 Hong Kong’s Tortuous 10 Sex, Science and Morality in China Democratization Joanne McMillan A comparative analysis 11 Politics in China Since 1949 Ming Sing Legitimizing authoritarian rule 3 China’s Business Reforms Robert Weatherley Institutional challenges in 12 International Human Resource a globalised economy Management in Chinese Edited by Russell Smyth and Multinationals Cherrie Zhu Jie Shen and Vincent Edwards 4 Challenges for China’s 13 Unemployment in China Development Economy, human resources An enterprise perspective and labour markets Edited by David H. Brown Edited by Grace Lee and and Alasdair MacBean Malcolm Warner 5 New Crime in China 14 China and Africa Public order and human rights Engagement and compromise Ron Keith and Zhiqiu Lin Ian Taylor 6 Non-Governmental Organizations 15 Gender and Education in China in Contemporary China Gender discourses and women’s Paving the way to civil society? schooling in the early twentieth Qiusha Ma century 7 Globalization and the Chinese City Paul J. Bailey Fulong Wu 16 SARS 8 The Politics of China’s Accession Reception and interpretation in to the World Trade Organization three Chinese cities The dragon goes global Edited by Deborah Davis and Hui Feng Helen Siu SARS Reception and interpretations in three Chinese cities Edited by Deborah Davis and Helen Siu I~ ~?io~;~;n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2007 by Routledge Published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2007 Editorial selection, Deborah Davis and Helen Siu; individual chapters, the contributors Typeset in Sabon by Keystroke, 28 High Street, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton The Open Access version of this book, available at www.tandfebooks.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercail-No Derivatives 4.0 license. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data SARS : reception and interpretation in three Chinese cities / edited by Deborah Davis and Helen Siu. p. ; cm. – (Routledge contemporary China series ; 16) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. SARS (Disease)–China. I. Davis, Deborah, 1945– II. Siu, Helen F. III. Series. [DNLM: 1. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome–transmission–China. 2. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome–transmission–Hong Kong. 3. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome–transmission–Taiwan. 4. Disease Outbreaks–China. 5. Disease Outbreaks–Hong Kong. 6. Disease Outbreaks–Taiwan. 7. International Cooperation–China. 8. International Cooperation–Hong Kong. 9. International Cooperation–Taiwan. 10. Mass Media–China. 11. Mass Media–Hong Kong. 12. Mass Media–Taiwan. 13. Public Policy–China. 14. Public Policy–Hong Kong. 15. Public Policy–Taiwan. 16. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome–psychology–China. 17. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome–psychology–Hong Kong. 18. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome–psychology–Taiwan. WC 505 S2479 2006] RA644.S17S37 2006 362.196′200951–dc22 2006018383 ISBN13: 978–0–415–77085–9 (hbk) Contents List of illustrations vii Contributors ix Acknowledgements xi 1 SARS: reception and interpretations in three Chinese cities 1 DEBORAH DAVIS AND HELEN SIU 2 Global connectivity and local politics: SARS, talk radio, and public opinion 19 ERIC KIT-WAI MA AND JOSEPH MAN CHAN 3 SARS, avian flu, and the urban double take 45 JOHN NGUYET ERNI 4 Eulogy and practice: public professionals and private lives 75 HELEN SIU AND JANE CHAN 5 Artistic responses to SARS: footprints in the local and global realms of cyberspace 103 ABBEY NEWMAN 6 SARS humor for the virtual community: between the Chinese emerging public sphere and the authoritarian state 119 HONG ZHANG 7 The weakness of a post-authoritarian democratic society: reflections upon Taiwan’s societal crisis during the SARS outbreak 147 YUN FAN AND MING-CHI CHEN vi Contents 8 Epilogue 165 CHRISTINE LOH Index 175 Illustrations Figures 1.1 Arrivals and departures of immigrants in Hong Kong, 1948–97 8 1.2 Visits between Hong Kong and PRC, 1994–2004 9 1.3 Visits between PRC and Taiwan, 1988–2003 13 3.1 SARS city in Peter Chan’s Memories of Spring 2003 51 5.1 Never-Ending Self-Strengthening by Zhang Sen 106 5.2 Angel and Devil by Shi Dawei 107 5.3 Remember This Pair of Beautiful Eyes by Tang Shichu 109 5.4 Entering the Party Battle Line by Wang Shensheng 111 Tables 2.1 Attitudes of citizens and journalists on roles of media, legislature and government 26 3.1 Avian flu: the global picture 46 3.2 Shifting signs of urbanism 61 7.1 Reported frequencies of social protest incidents in Taiwan, 1983–7 157 Contributors Jane Chan, Specialist in Respiratory Medicine, in a private practice; formerly with the Hospital Authority, Hong Kong. Joseph Man Chan, Professor, School of Journalism and Communications, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Ming-chi Chen, Assistant Professor, Institute of Sociology/Center for Contemporary China, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. Deborah Davis, Professor, Department of Sociology, Yale University. John Nguyet Erni, Associate Professor, Department of English and Communication, City University of Hong Kong. Yun Fan, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University. Christine Loh, Chief Executive Officer, Civic Exchange, Hong Kong. Eric Kit-wai Ma, Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Communications, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Abbey Newman, Executive Director, Council on East Asian Studies, Yale University. Helen Siu, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Yale University. Hong Zhang, Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, Colby College. Acknowledgements This book began as one panel at a conference held at Yale University between September 19 and 21, 2003 to allow a diverse group of scholars and practitioners who had been on the front lines of the outbreak of SARS in Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Toronto, and Singapore to reflect on SARS as globalization’s newest challenge. In July 2004 several of the original panelists were joined by colleagues from Taiwan and Hong Kong to focus on both official and popular reactions to SARS in the three Chinese cities that had been most heavily impacted. We want to thank the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for hosting that workshop and for the support of their staff. We also appreciate the input from other panelists, paper-givers, discussants and reviewers at various stages of the process. Funds for the conference and workshop were provided by the Council on East Asia Studies at Yale University and the Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at Hong Kong University. Finally, the editors would like to thank Mimi Hall Yiengpruksawan, chair of the Yale Council on East Asia Studies, for her leadership in creating the initial gathering in New Haven and for unfailing support of the project as it evolved into this volume. 1 SARS Reception and interpretations in three Chinese cities Deborah Davis and Helen Siu In November 2002 a middle-aged government official in southern China fell ill with a virulent pneumonia that did not respond to typical therapies.1 A month later a young chef who worked in a restaurant specializing in exotic wildlife in the booming city of Shenzhen presented similar symptoms and sought treatment at a county hospital near his parents’ home. Unable to improve the young chef’s breathing,