Join Stanford's Shorenstein APARC China Program as we welcome Prof Dali Yang from the University of Chicago to discuss the findings from his new book "In Wuhan: How the COVID-19 Outbreak in China Spiraled Out of Control” (Oxford University Press, 2024).

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in Wuhan in late 2019, is a generation defining event. In his book, Yang Dali examines China’s emergency response, focusing on how the government handled epidemic information and decisions that shaped the outbreak. Despite an early start, Yang reveals bureaucratic obstacles, political pressures, and cognitive limitations hindered information sharing and understanding of the virus’s contagiousness, leading to the outbreak’s spiral.

 

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Dali Yang is the William Claude Reavis Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. In addition to “In Wuhan: How the COVID-19 Outbreak in China Spiraled Out of Control,” Prof. Yang is the author of many books and scholarly articles on the politics and political economy of China. Among his books are "Remaking the Chinese Leviathan: Market Transition and the Politics of Governance in China" (Stanford University Press, 2004); "Beyond Beijing: Liberalization and the Regions in China" (Routledge, 1997); and "Calamity and Reform in China: State, Rural Society, and Institutional Change since the Great Leap Famine" (Stanford University Press, 1996).