Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome: From Benchtop to Bedside

235 Pages·2004·0.95 MB·English

by  Joseph J. Y. Sung

Severe Rcute Respiratorq Sqndrome
From Benchtop t o Bedside
This page intentionally left blank
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
From Benchtop to Bedside
edited by
Joseph J Y Sung
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
World Scientific
NEW JERSEY (cid:144) LONDON (cid:144) SINGAPORE (cid:144) BEIJING (cid:144) SHANGHAI (cid:144) HONG KONG (cid:144) TAIPEI (cid:144) CHENNAI
Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME
From Benchtop to Bedside
Copyright © 2004 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to
photocopy is not required from the publisher.
ISBN 981-238-753-6
Typeset by Stallion Press
E-mail: [email protected]
Printed in Singapore.
SC - SARS (From Benchtop to ...).pmd 1 10/11/2005, 6:08 PM
B222-FM.qxd 09/06/04 10:50 AM Page v
Contents
Editors and Contributors vii
Introduction 1
SARS and Governance in China
John WONG and ZHENG Yongnian
1 The Impact of SARS on Greater China Economies 11
John WONG, Sarah CHAN and LIANG Ruobing
2 SARS and China’s Political System 45
ZHENG Yongnian and LYE Liang Fook
3 Local Management of SARS in China:
Guangdong and Beijing 77
LAI Hongyi
4 SARS and the Rule of Law in China 99
ZOU Keyuan
5 Healthcare Regime Change and the SARS Outbreak in China 123
GU Xin
6 “Chinese Scientists Were Defeated by SARS” 157
CAO Cong
7 SARS and Freedom of Press: Has the Chinese
Government Learnt a Lesson? 181
HE Baogang
8 The Hong Kong SAR Government, Civil Society and SARS 199
Elspeth THOMSON and YOW Cheun Hoe
Index 221
v
This page intentionally left blank
B222-FM.qxd 09/06/04 10:50 AM Page vii
Editors
John WONG, Research Director, East Asian Institute
ZHENG Yongnian, Senior Research Fellow, East Asian Institute
Contributors
CAO Cong, Research Fellow, East Asian Institute
Sarah CHAN, Research Officer, East Asian Institute
GU Xin, Professor, Beijing Normal University
HE Baogang, Senior Research Fellow, East Asian Institute
LAI Hongyi, Research Fellow, East Asian Institute
LIANG Ruobing, Research Officer, East Asian Institute
LYE Liang Fook, Research Officer, East Asian Institute
Elspeth THOMSON, Research Fellow, East Asian Institute
YOW Cheun Hoe, Research Officer, East Asian Institute
ZOU Keyuan, Senior Research Fellow, East Asian Institute
vii
This page intentionally left blank
B222-Intro.qxd 09/06/04 10:52 AM Page 1
Introduction
SARS and Governance in China
JOHN WONG AND ZHENG YONGNIAN
In the first half of 2003, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) sud-
denly struck China and Hong Kong, claiming many lives and causing
panic. It also jolted their economic growth, disrupted the social life of
their citizens, and created much stress and strain on their political sys-
tems and governance.
Like dealing with other “external shocks”, the management of the
SARS crisis provides a good opportunity to examine the weaknesses and
strengths of the political systems of China and its special administrative
area, Hong Kong. Although both are Chinese communities, their politi-
cal systems differ. China remains an authoritarian political system,
despite the dramatic economic transformation that has occurred over the
past two decades. Hong Kong inherited the British colonial political sys-
tem with a rich tradition of rule of law and an efficient bureaucracy.
Nevertheless, after its return to China, societal demands for greater
democratization have increased. Given the different political settings of
these two Chinese communities, it would be interesting to examine how
they responded to the SARS crisis.
From the outset, scholars at the East Asian Institute (EAI) have fol-
lowed closely the unfolding of SARS events in China and Hong Kong,
particularly how each of the two societies has come to grips with such a
“random shock”. SARS may or may not recur in the near future, and
many of its effects may only be short-term in nature. However, the
episode has produced some long-term structural consequences. In
1