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Social Contagion: And Other Material on Microbiological Class War in China
Social Contagion presents the untold story of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. Chuang, a collective of communists living inside and outside China, chronicle the struggles of everyday people caught between a lethal virus and a repressive state. They argue that China's rapid but fragile economic growth has created the social and biological conditions for new and deadly viruses, of which COVID-19 was merely the latest iteration. Through on-the-ground interviews, reports, and analysis, Social Contagion gives us a piercing portrait of the simultaneously draconian and ineffectual response of the Chinese state, as well as the self-organizing survival strategies of ordinary Chinese workers. Chuang concludes that the pandemic has enabled a new mode of counterinsurgent governance, one rooted in decades of institutional experimentation and an emergent theory of statecraft.
224 pages, Paperback
Published November 23, 2021
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December 16, 2022
Chuang's "Social Contagion" essay is one of the stand-out mind-melting texts that emerged from the early stages of the pandemic. Along with Rob Wallace's work (on which it also heavily relies), "Social Contagion" properly contextualizes the origins of COVID-19 not within some particularly Chinese cultural mystique, nor within some random accident external to capital, but rather within the contradictions of industrial agriculture. It is truly one of *the crucial* things to read to understand our political-ecological moment.
that said, the gravitas of this essay in some ways masks the much more compelling thesis Chuang develops in this essay and the fourth in this volume, "Plague Illuminates the Great Unity of All Under Heaven: On the Coming State." (Between them lie a too-short, inessential non-Chuang worker's inquiry essay, and an interview with Wuhan residents that is only sometimes interesting). The thesis, in short, is that the Chinese state is defined not by some kind of totalitarian centralization, but rather by the *incapacity* of the central state. Lest this be some kind of refuge, the more harrowing conclusion in the 90 page essay on state theory is that the *coming* state does, or will, *work* (that is, protect the interests of capital) through producing experimental "horizontal" autonomy, thus allowing innovation to fill in the gaps. Obviously this is a radically different depiction of Chinese state power than that which we receive in the West, but so too does it chafe against theories of autonomy and mutual aid which are closer to my heart. Here, Chuang show how the early stages of the pandemic were somewhat contained by organized voluntary citizen action, which only later became subsumed into a variety of scales of state administration (e.g., shequ, housing authority, police and private security, etc). The long chapter on the state also gives us a window into how this situation emerged from the remnants of the transition from socialism to capitalism, and revivals of 'traditional' forms of national Chinese heritage and kinship networks. they also describe what Chinese political theorists have to say about it, all while keeping a principled materialist stance that these are not adequate descriptions of the logic of state development, but attempts to tarry with the material problems thrown up by capital accumulation. to me, this is the cutting edge of marxist state theory missing in the all-too-poulantzian treatments that rear their zombified bodies in Europe and the U.S., something i've been struggling to write about in an ootw series for YEARS now.
if i were to have a minor gripe with the book, it is just that it doesn't always quite deliver on the "class war" in its subtitle. the analysis doesn't much focus on labor, outside of the scant 13ish page description of chapter 2 (not written by Chuang). And there are persistent worries that the social composition of such collective-anonymous groups are perhaps more western (or western-influenced) than endemically Chinese. the latter doesn't bother me too much, but it does raise questions in the accountability/believability/trust realm. the former though is weirder, particularly given some of the more interesting texts in earlier Chuang volumes (which i still need to finish). for instance, this essay from Eli Friedman (an endorser of this book) would make a compelling companion https://www.bostonreview.net/articles... adding a bit more substance to the communist perspective on China outlined here to distinguish it from ever-present liberal critiques (and their 'left' avatars) would still be much appreciated. but who am i to say, i accidentally left this at the bar for a week after trying to read it during a world cup halftime.
that said, the gravitas of this essay in some ways masks the much more compelling thesis Chuang develops in this essay and the fourth in this volume, "Plague Illuminates the Great Unity of All Under Heaven: On the Coming State." (Between them lie a too-short, inessential non-Chuang worker's inquiry essay, and an interview with Wuhan residents that is only sometimes interesting). The thesis, in short, is that the Chinese state is defined not by some kind of totalitarian centralization, but rather by the *incapacity* of the central state. Lest this be some kind of refuge, the more harrowing conclusion in the 90 page essay on state theory is that the *coming* state does, or will, *work* (that is, protect the interests of capital) through producing experimental "horizontal" autonomy, thus allowing innovation to fill in the gaps. Obviously this is a radically different depiction of Chinese state power than that which we receive in the West, but so too does it chafe against theories of autonomy and mutual aid which are closer to my heart. Here, Chuang show how the early stages of the pandemic were somewhat contained by organized voluntary citizen action, which only later became subsumed into a variety of scales of state administration (e.g., shequ, housing authority, police and private security, etc). The long chapter on the state also gives us a window into how this situation emerged from the remnants of the transition from socialism to capitalism, and revivals of 'traditional' forms of national Chinese heritage and kinship networks. they also describe what Chinese political theorists have to say about it, all while keeping a principled materialist stance that these are not adequate descriptions of the logic of state development, but attempts to tarry with the material problems thrown up by capital accumulation. to me, this is the cutting edge of marxist state theory missing in the all-too-poulantzian treatments that rear their zombified bodies in Europe and the U.S., something i've been struggling to write about in an ootw series for YEARS now.
if i were to have a minor gripe with the book, it is just that it doesn't always quite deliver on the "class war" in its subtitle. the analysis doesn't much focus on labor, outside of the scant 13ish page description of chapter 2 (not written by Chuang). And there are persistent worries that the social composition of such collective-anonymous groups are perhaps more western (or western-influenced) than endemically Chinese. the latter doesn't bother me too much, but it does raise questions in the accountability/believability/trust realm. the former though is weirder, particularly given some of the more interesting texts in earlier Chuang volumes (which i still need to finish). for instance, this essay from Eli Friedman (an endorser of this book) would make a compelling companion https://www.bostonreview.net/articles... adding a bit more substance to the communist perspective on China outlined here to distinguish it from ever-present liberal critiques (and their 'left' avatars) would still be much appreciated. but who am i to say, i accidentally left this at the bar for a week after trying to read it during a world cup halftime.
January 22, 2022
Finding truthful information about China, specially since the increase of sinophobia caused by the pandemic, is a very difficult endeavor. Western media paints China as a communist, draconian state through an orientalist lens, while many western leftist idolize the nation as an example of communism and a hope of defeating American imperialism. Both accounts are extremely biased and speak from the outside, projecting the reality the authors want to see.
This is why I was really glad to come across Chuang, a communist collective inside China that performs very thorough and well source critiques of the Chinese state, which they consider to be capitalist above all else. In this collection, they examine the rise and management of the pandemic, a subject that is almost always sensationalized to no avail.
The first essay, "Social Contagion", is a fascinating analysis of how capitalism created the conditions for COVID-19 to arise, and thoroughly explains how this is a man made disaster. It is an eye opening piece, and I urge anyone seeking to understand our current times to read it. It can be found on their website: https://chuangcn.org/2020/02/social-c...
The second and third pieces detail accounts of laborers in Wuhan during the rise of the virus, by analyzing worker organizing and by interviewing some friends that lived the lock down and acted as volunteers. These first-hand accounts provide a look into the birth of the pandemic.
I struggled a bit with the final piece due to my ignorance on chinese philosophy and history, but still found it fascinating. It explores and details the inner-workings of the chinese state, its incapacity to manage the pandemic, and how contrary to ordinary belief it was volunteering efforts and popular response that kept the pandemic at bay instead of the authoritarian measures of the state.
After reading this I feel like I have a better grasp of China in the 21st century as well as the direct causation from capitalist forms of accumulation/production to the creation of globally spreaded viruses. Highly recommended!
This is why I was really glad to come across Chuang, a communist collective inside China that performs very thorough and well source critiques of the Chinese state, which they consider to be capitalist above all else. In this collection, they examine the rise and management of the pandemic, a subject that is almost always sensationalized to no avail.
The first essay, "Social Contagion", is a fascinating analysis of how capitalism created the conditions for COVID-19 to arise, and thoroughly explains how this is a man made disaster. It is an eye opening piece, and I urge anyone seeking to understand our current times to read it. It can be found on their website: https://chuangcn.org/2020/02/social-c...
The second and third pieces detail accounts of laborers in Wuhan during the rise of the virus, by analyzing worker organizing and by interviewing some friends that lived the lock down and acted as volunteers. These first-hand accounts provide a look into the birth of the pandemic.
I struggled a bit with the final piece due to my ignorance on chinese philosophy and history, but still found it fascinating. It explores and details the inner-workings of the chinese state, its incapacity to manage the pandemic, and how contrary to ordinary belief it was volunteering efforts and popular response that kept the pandemic at bay instead of the authoritarian measures of the state.
After reading this I feel like I have a better grasp of China in the 21st century as well as the direct causation from capitalist forms of accumulation/production to the creation of globally spreaded viruses. Highly recommended!
Read
December 14, 2023sharp writing about china that is sorely needed amidst a sea of shitty china watch stuff and maoist nostalgia… appreciated the more personal interview of conditions in wuhanwith the v v v broad explanation into how the state is structured/relation to statecraft, as well as the frank appraisal of mutual aid networks during the pandemic
April 28, 2021
Interessante, porém esburacado.
Fui ler esse texto porque o vi sendo citado em outros trabalhos sobre pandemia que li recentemente, então fui ver o que esse coletivo de comunistas chineses críticos ao PCCh tinham a dizer.
Confesso que fiquei um pouco decepcionado, apesar de ser um livro interessante.
Primeiramente, a introdução de Amauri Gonzo, que se inicia com citações de Marx e Camus, é muito boa, então cria uma expectativa que é um pouco frustrada durante a leitura. Apresentando o Coletivo como um crítico comunista ao PCCh, expõe as questões do capitalismo tardio e do Estado semicentralizado na China. Ressaltando a posição do Coletivo enquanto crítica tanto ao chauvinismo continental quanto ao neoliberalismo ilhota de Hong Kong, o Coletivo se insere em um debate de economia política, "epidemiologia marxista" e revolta autonomista. Após tal introdução, fiquei animadíssimo para a leitura.
O primeiro capítulo descreve a conjuntura da "fornalha" chinesa (Wuhan), enquanto capital industrial da construção e epicentro de processos econômicos borbulhantes da economia global. Com o "esfriamento" da fornalha pela pandemia, o Coletivo ressalta o lema "não se reunam, não causem caos" enquanto expõe as conspirações ocidentais e racistas sobre o surgimento do vírus e sobre a "crise de legitimidade" do PCCh (não nos esqueçamos das matérias anuais de "agora vai" dos liberais estadunidenses torcendo por uma revolução colorida na China); embora seja curioso que o Coletivo trate a discussão PCCh em crise vs. crítica ao orientalismo como uma mera discussão sobre representação, que não se aprofunda sobre a "produção" do vírus - sim, é claro, mas é possível falar de mais de um nível de discussão, não? Em meio a isso, surgem os questionamentos e inseguranças da população, que se sente em uma greve de massa porém atomizada e isolada. Apontando para uma "resposta" às atuais inseguranças, o Coletivo aponta que não é hora de dar uma de Scooby-Doo Marxista (amei esse termo, vou usar), ou seja, simplesmente dizer "a culpa é do capitalismo!": sim, mas o que importa é entender como se relacionam as esferas socioeconômica e biológica - e como primeiro passo, devemos parar de estabelecer essa Grande Divisão (me lembra Latour e sua ideia de rede sociotécnica, que agencia atores humanos e não-humanos, sem sujeito nem objeto - similar ao rizoma de D&G).
É aqui então que a questão esfria. O segundo capítulo é basicamente um resumo do livro de Rob Wallace sobre a relação entre o agronegócio capitalista e as pandemias - muito interessante, porém é quase um "poderia estar lendo o Wallace e não isso". O capítulo 3 é um pouco mais interessante, mostrando a história das pandemias e sua relação com o capitalismo global, indo desde as epidemias na Inglaterra do séc XVIII, passando pelas pandemias decorrentes do imperialismo na África e da proletarização na Primeira Guerra Mundial.
O capítulo quatro começa a análise sobre a China. Gostaria de enfatizar aqui um problema que fiquei chateado em encontrar, extremamente presente na literatura política acadêmica ocidental sobre a China (que tenho extenso contato por causa da minha pesquisa): a errância conceitual dos autores em tratar a China ora como um gigante repressor, ora como um incapaz desengonçado. Há de fato elementos dos dois em diferentes campos, mas a retórica envolvida nessa tipo de caracterização é problemática. Longe de uma mera confrontação entre o discurso oficial do governo e a sua atuação, o Coletivo acaba instrumentalizando os retratos que ele pinta sobre o Estado chinês para que o argumento funcione. E disclaimer, diversas críticas são importantíssimas e concordo com várias delas, mas a pintura caricata de retratos é um empecilho para uma análise que se propõe crítica - pinte melhor seus retratos. Enfim, enfatizando os sucessos da saúde na "era socialista" da China, o Coletivo ressalta um misto de negligência, incapacidade e desinvestimento no sistema de saúde da China; além de um baixo controle de qualidade sobre os produtos do mercado interno; alertando para tensões sociais crescentes decorrentes desses processos, a crítica do Coletivo nesse ponto é acertada. Entretanto, o incapaz desengoçado, meses depois da análise do Coletivo (do início de 2020), foi extremamente bem sucedido no controle da pandemia - menos de 5 mil mortes no total. É portanto algo que não pode ser cobrado do Coletivo - prever o futuro -, mas é uma análise conjuntural bastante limitada ao mês em que ela foi escrita.
O quinto capítulo volta a se amparar em Wallace para propor uma tese interessante: "não há mais região selvagem", enfatizando a subordinação do 'natural' as cadeias totalizantes e globais do capitalismo. Há também uma exposição interessante sobre o aparente 'fora' dessas cadeias: grupos que, pela expansão agroindustrial, são obrigados a ir mais à fundo nas florestas para sobreviver, aumentando contatos propensos a proliferação de patógenos e a repressão de "agentes de segurança verde".
Os capítulos seis e sete recaem um pouco nas caricaturas anteriores do governo chinês: controle espetacular e repressivo contrastado com incapacidade de centralização e insuficiência de medidas de controle, dependendo de "esforços voluntários"; o Coletivo defende que "a própria violência da repressão significa uma incapacidade mais profunda no Estado chinês, que ainda está em construção" - tese que não descarto, mas tenho grandes dúvidas sobre: como tecnologias gigantescas de controle social poderiam "funcionar" com uma máquina estatal escassa? Em nome da minha pesquisa, penso que a crítica do Coletivo sobre o Estado chinês seria muito mais acertada caso enfatizasse não um incapaz desengonçado, mas buscasse expor os mecanismos da burocracia estatal que expõe seu gigantismo e seus pontos cegos, evitando caricaturas reducionistas de uma quarentena-gambiarra (termo que perde completamente o sentido quando comparada a respostas chinesa frente a todos os outros países do mundo, com exceção de alguns países ricos e de população bem menor). Chegam inclusive a usar um dos muitos instrumentos conspiratórios dos ativistas de Hong Kong (algo que é falado pelo Coletivo em nota de rodapé, tentando se distanciar apesar de fazer o mesmo tipo de uso). Enfim, por outro lado, o Coletivo demonstra bem os efeitos sociais do "capitalismo em quarentena" (como diz Jappe) na China, uma exposição muito boa sobre desaceleração.
O livro termina com uma bela defesa dos caminhos de uma política comunista na conjuntura pandêmica, um dos poucos momentos que concordo integralmente com o Coletivo. Deixo aqui um parágrafo que resume bem a exposição: "Como a crise secular do capitalismo assume um caráter aparentemente não econômico, novas epidemias, fomes, inundações e outros desastres "naturais" serão usados como justificativa para a extensão do controle estatal, e a resposta a essas crises funcionará cada vez mais como uma oportunidade de exercitar ferramentas novas e não testadas para contrainsurgência. Uma política comunista coerente deve compreender esses dois fatos juntos. No nível teórico, isso significa entender que a crítica ao capitalismo é empobrecida sempre que é
separada das ciências exatas. Mas, no nível prático, implica também que o único projeto político possível hoje é aquele capaz de se orientar em um terreno definido por um desastre ecológico e microbiológico generalizado e de operar nesse estado perpétuo de crise e atomização." Portanto, é nessa impasse do contágio que nos colocamos. Enquanto o bloco no poder constrói o Estado em sobrecarga e vício, travemos uma guerra para desabar o prédio a partir de suas fissuras e infiltrações.
Fui ler esse texto porque o vi sendo citado em outros trabalhos sobre pandemia que li recentemente, então fui ver o que esse coletivo de comunistas chineses críticos ao PCCh tinham a dizer.
Confesso que fiquei um pouco decepcionado, apesar de ser um livro interessante.
Primeiramente, a introdução de Amauri Gonzo, que se inicia com citações de Marx e Camus, é muito boa, então cria uma expectativa que é um pouco frustrada durante a leitura. Apresentando o Coletivo como um crítico comunista ao PCCh, expõe as questões do capitalismo tardio e do Estado semicentralizado na China. Ressaltando a posição do Coletivo enquanto crítica tanto ao chauvinismo continental quanto ao neoliberalismo ilhota de Hong Kong, o Coletivo se insere em um debate de economia política, "epidemiologia marxista" e revolta autonomista. Após tal introdução, fiquei animadíssimo para a leitura.
O primeiro capítulo descreve a conjuntura da "fornalha" chinesa (Wuhan), enquanto capital industrial da construção e epicentro de processos econômicos borbulhantes da economia global. Com o "esfriamento" da fornalha pela pandemia, o Coletivo ressalta o lema "não se reunam, não causem caos" enquanto expõe as conspirações ocidentais e racistas sobre o surgimento do vírus e sobre a "crise de legitimidade" do PCCh (não nos esqueçamos das matérias anuais de "agora vai" dos liberais estadunidenses torcendo por uma revolução colorida na China); embora seja curioso que o Coletivo trate a discussão PCCh em crise vs. crítica ao orientalismo como uma mera discussão sobre representação, que não se aprofunda sobre a "produção" do vírus - sim, é claro, mas é possível falar de mais de um nível de discussão, não? Em meio a isso, surgem os questionamentos e inseguranças da população, que se sente em uma greve de massa porém atomizada e isolada. Apontando para uma "resposta" às atuais inseguranças, o Coletivo aponta que não é hora de dar uma de Scooby-Doo Marxista (amei esse termo, vou usar), ou seja, simplesmente dizer "a culpa é do capitalismo!": sim, mas o que importa é entender como se relacionam as esferas socioeconômica e biológica - e como primeiro passo, devemos parar de estabelecer essa Grande Divisão (me lembra Latour e sua ideia de rede sociotécnica, que agencia atores humanos e não-humanos, sem sujeito nem objeto - similar ao rizoma de D&G).
É aqui então que a questão esfria. O segundo capítulo é basicamente um resumo do livro de Rob Wallace sobre a relação entre o agronegócio capitalista e as pandemias - muito interessante, porém é quase um "poderia estar lendo o Wallace e não isso". O capítulo 3 é um pouco mais interessante, mostrando a história das pandemias e sua relação com o capitalismo global, indo desde as epidemias na Inglaterra do séc XVIII, passando pelas pandemias decorrentes do imperialismo na África e da proletarização na Primeira Guerra Mundial.
O capítulo quatro começa a análise sobre a China. Gostaria de enfatizar aqui um problema que fiquei chateado em encontrar, extremamente presente na literatura política acadêmica ocidental sobre a China (que tenho extenso contato por causa da minha pesquisa): a errância conceitual dos autores em tratar a China ora como um gigante repressor, ora como um incapaz desengonçado. Há de fato elementos dos dois em diferentes campos, mas a retórica envolvida nessa tipo de caracterização é problemática. Longe de uma mera confrontação entre o discurso oficial do governo e a sua atuação, o Coletivo acaba instrumentalizando os retratos que ele pinta sobre o Estado chinês para que o argumento funcione. E disclaimer, diversas críticas são importantíssimas e concordo com várias delas, mas a pintura caricata de retratos é um empecilho para uma análise que se propõe crítica - pinte melhor seus retratos. Enfim, enfatizando os sucessos da saúde na "era socialista" da China, o Coletivo ressalta um misto de negligência, incapacidade e desinvestimento no sistema de saúde da China; além de um baixo controle de qualidade sobre os produtos do mercado interno; alertando para tensões sociais crescentes decorrentes desses processos, a crítica do Coletivo nesse ponto é acertada. Entretanto, o incapaz desengoçado, meses depois da análise do Coletivo (do início de 2020), foi extremamente bem sucedido no controle da pandemia - menos de 5 mil mortes no total. É portanto algo que não pode ser cobrado do Coletivo - prever o futuro -, mas é uma análise conjuntural bastante limitada ao mês em que ela foi escrita.
O quinto capítulo volta a se amparar em Wallace para propor uma tese interessante: "não há mais região selvagem", enfatizando a subordinação do 'natural' as cadeias totalizantes e globais do capitalismo. Há também uma exposição interessante sobre o aparente 'fora' dessas cadeias: grupos que, pela expansão agroindustrial, são obrigados a ir mais à fundo nas florestas para sobreviver, aumentando contatos propensos a proliferação de patógenos e a repressão de "agentes de segurança verde".
Os capítulos seis e sete recaem um pouco nas caricaturas anteriores do governo chinês: controle espetacular e repressivo contrastado com incapacidade de centralização e insuficiência de medidas de controle, dependendo de "esforços voluntários"; o Coletivo defende que "a própria violência da repressão significa uma incapacidade mais profunda no Estado chinês, que ainda está em construção" - tese que não descarto, mas tenho grandes dúvidas sobre: como tecnologias gigantescas de controle social poderiam "funcionar" com uma máquina estatal escassa? Em nome da minha pesquisa, penso que a crítica do Coletivo sobre o Estado chinês seria muito mais acertada caso enfatizasse não um incapaz desengonçado, mas buscasse expor os mecanismos da burocracia estatal que expõe seu gigantismo e seus pontos cegos, evitando caricaturas reducionistas de uma quarentena-gambiarra (termo que perde completamente o sentido quando comparada a respostas chinesa frente a todos os outros países do mundo, com exceção de alguns países ricos e de população bem menor). Chegam inclusive a usar um dos muitos instrumentos conspiratórios dos ativistas de Hong Kong (algo que é falado pelo Coletivo em nota de rodapé, tentando se distanciar apesar de fazer o mesmo tipo de uso). Enfim, por outro lado, o Coletivo demonstra bem os efeitos sociais do "capitalismo em quarentena" (como diz Jappe) na China, uma exposição muito boa sobre desaceleração.
O livro termina com uma bela defesa dos caminhos de uma política comunista na conjuntura pandêmica, um dos poucos momentos que concordo integralmente com o Coletivo. Deixo aqui um parágrafo que resume bem a exposição: "Como a crise secular do capitalismo assume um caráter aparentemente não econômico, novas epidemias, fomes, inundações e outros desastres "naturais" serão usados como justificativa para a extensão do controle estatal, e a resposta a essas crises funcionará cada vez mais como uma oportunidade de exercitar ferramentas novas e não testadas para contrainsurgência. Uma política comunista coerente deve compreender esses dois fatos juntos. No nível teórico, isso significa entender que a crítica ao capitalismo é empobrecida sempre que é
separada das ciências exatas. Mas, no nível prático, implica também que o único projeto político possível hoje é aquele capaz de se orientar em um terreno definido por um desastre ecológico e microbiológico generalizado e de operar nesse estado perpétuo de crise e atomização." Portanto, é nessa impasse do contágio que nos colocamos. Enquanto o bloco no poder constrói o Estado em sobrecarga e vício, travemos uma guerra para desabar o prédio a partir de suas fissuras e infiltrações.
March 10, 2024
When it comes to contemporary critical communist analysis, Chuang set a gold standard in this book. The section entitled ‘The Philosophy of the Coming State’, focusing on the different varieties of Chinese political philosophy and their relation to the existing state from the 1980s up to when the text was published is remarkable; it could well be published as a pamphlet all by itself.
July 7, 2022
Read this for a reading group I’m in. Some interesting analysis, but overall was not as taken by it as others in the group. The commentary on lockdowns didn’t quite age as well, and one of the other essays included in the book, spoke to this issue a bit. I really am surprised Marxists in my group liked this, because it felt more like a CrimethInc piece than a rigorous Marxist analysis. (I like CrimethInc sometimes, but considering how much Graeber was being dismissed in other meetings, I found their embrace of this book surprising.) Also surprised they managed to get a blurb from Mike Davis on this book. Robert Wallace is also cited, who’s published by Monthly Review, a Marxist publication that often stands at odds with Chuang. Despite my reservations, there’s still some interesting sections. I think the opening was actually one of the strongest parts of this essay:
“Wuhan is known colloquially as one of the “four furnaces” (四大火炉) of China for its oppressively hot humid summer, shared with Chongqing, Nanjing and alternately Nanchang or Changsha, all bustling cities with long histories along or near the Yangtze river valley. Of the four, Wuhan, however, is also sprinkled with literal furnaces: the massive urban complex acts as a sort of nucleus for the steel, concrete and other construction-related industries of China, its landscape dotted with the slowly-cooling blast furnaces of the remnant state-owned iron and steel foundries, now plagued by overproduction and forced into a contentious new round of downsizing, privatization and general restructuring—itself resulting in several large strikes and protests in the last five years. The city is essentially the construction capital of China, which means it has played a particularly important role in the period after the global economic crisis, since these were the years in which Chinese growth was buoyed by the funneling of investment funds into infrastructure and real estate projects. Wuhan not only fed this bubble with its oversupply of building materials and civil engineers but also, in so doing, became a real estate boomtown of its own. According to our own calculations, in 2018-2019 the total area dedicated to construction sites in Wuhan was equivalent to the size of Hong Kong island as a whole.”
“Beneath the four furnaces, then, lies a more fundamental furnace undergirding the industrial hubs of the world: the evolutionary pressure cooker of capitalist agriculture and urbanization. This provides the ideal medium through which ever-more-devastating plagues are born, transformed, induced to zoonotic leaps, and then aggressively vectored through the human population. To this is added similarly intensive processes occurring at the economy’s fringes, where “wild” strains are encountered by people pushed to ever-more extensive agroeconomic incursions into local ecosystems… The basic idea here is developed most thoroughly by left-wing biologists like Robert G. Wallace, whose 2016 book Big Farms Make Big Flu makes an exhaustive case for the connection between capitalist agribusiness and the etiology of recent epidemics ranging from SARS to Ebola. These epidemics can be loosely grouped into two categories, the first originating at the core of agroeconomic production, and the second in its hinterland.”
“Wuhan is known colloquially as one of the “four furnaces” (四大火炉) of China for its oppressively hot humid summer, shared with Chongqing, Nanjing and alternately Nanchang or Changsha, all bustling cities with long histories along or near the Yangtze river valley. Of the four, Wuhan, however, is also sprinkled with literal furnaces: the massive urban complex acts as a sort of nucleus for the steel, concrete and other construction-related industries of China, its landscape dotted with the slowly-cooling blast furnaces of the remnant state-owned iron and steel foundries, now plagued by overproduction and forced into a contentious new round of downsizing, privatization and general restructuring—itself resulting in several large strikes and protests in the last five years. The city is essentially the construction capital of China, which means it has played a particularly important role in the period after the global economic crisis, since these were the years in which Chinese growth was buoyed by the funneling of investment funds into infrastructure and real estate projects. Wuhan not only fed this bubble with its oversupply of building materials and civil engineers but also, in so doing, became a real estate boomtown of its own. According to our own calculations, in 2018-2019 the total area dedicated to construction sites in Wuhan was equivalent to the size of Hong Kong island as a whole.”
“Beneath the four furnaces, then, lies a more fundamental furnace undergirding the industrial hubs of the world: the evolutionary pressure cooker of capitalist agriculture and urbanization. This provides the ideal medium through which ever-more-devastating plagues are born, transformed, induced to zoonotic leaps, and then aggressively vectored through the human population. To this is added similarly intensive processes occurring at the economy’s fringes, where “wild” strains are encountered by people pushed to ever-more extensive agroeconomic incursions into local ecosystems… The basic idea here is developed most thoroughly by left-wing biologists like Robert G. Wallace, whose 2016 book Big Farms Make Big Flu makes an exhaustive case for the connection between capitalist agribusiness and the etiology of recent epidemics ranging from SARS to Ebola. These epidemics can be loosely grouped into two categories, the first originating at the core of agroeconomic production, and the second in its hinterland.”
January 27, 2022
I really enjoyed the first essay, Social Contagion, about how the crisis of capitalism has extended into the microbiological created the conditions for an inevitable pandemic. The displacement of animals through factory farms / agro-capitalism led to the infection of domesticated animals led to the transporting of the virus from animals to humans. Would very much recommend it to others. The second and third essays on worker organizing and what happened in Wuhan the first months of the outbreak were also illuminating and challenged what I read about how the centralization of the Chinese government responded successfully to the virus. The last essay on statecraft went a bit over my head, too much political philosophy and theory for me, granted I'm not at all well-versed in any of that.
September 9, 2025
Unimaginably good.
July 13, 2022
This is a book by an anonymous collective of leftist Chinese radicals collecting articles about the initial COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. I'm not sure that I understood everything in the book because of my extreme lack of context, but what I did understand blew my mind. I had learned from another book about COVID that China does not have universal healthcare. The portrait of China in these essays, especially the first one about Wuhan, emerges as looking like the US. All the things that journalists wrote about the government doing to protect people in China started as projects of mutual aid. Just like we here in the US gave charitable donations to get PPE for our hospitals, Chinese people organized to distribute masks. (At least they didn't believe the masks were useless.) Where I got bogged down was in the extremely valuable information about the current organization of Chinese society. Also how weird it is to have Chinese communists who critique the capitalism of the official Chinese Communist Party.
December 27, 2021
Extremely good shit
April 7, 2022
This is a communist book.
March 2, 2023
Most of us are still attempting to understand what effect the pandemic has had on us. There are the obvious effects - the illnesses and death, the chaos it continues to cause in the world markets, etc. What is also frightening are the ways we are still understanding how it affected us mentally. This book, in attempting to apply a Marxist analysis to the origins and implications (both global and domestic to China) of the Covid pandemic, was a very welcome demystification of the 'manufacture' of plagues under capitalism.
Split into four sections, the book shines in its opening and final essays, on the nature of the Covid-19 pandemic (its origins and spread specifically) and a materialist analysis of the Chinese state, respectively. A key moment for me was the comparison of capitalism's absorption of 'wild' plagues found in our ever shrinking frontiers (due to plummeting natural variety) and the newly produced plagues found in factory farming conditions with Marx's framework of the formal and real subsumption of labor. Oddly this was only discussed in a footnote...a thesis worth expanding on I should think.
The essay on the state makes the powerful point that the essential feature of the modern state is to maintain the conditions required for accumulation and directly represent the interests of the capitalist bloc it represents - all else is secondary and can be experimented with different forms. A powerful argument against those (if many still exist) that wish to believe the Chinese state is somehow not capitalist.
The middle two essays, while not as informative as the other two, shine a nonetheless fascinating light on the concrete experiences of the Chinese people during the pandemic. If you wish to understand how we came to be caught up in seemingly endless cycles of avian flus and understand its relationship to modern production relations, this book is an excellent introduction to the subject. But note that I said it will demystify how we got into this mess...not make you feel better about it.
Split into four sections, the book shines in its opening and final essays, on the nature of the Covid-19 pandemic (its origins and spread specifically) and a materialist analysis of the Chinese state, respectively. A key moment for me was the comparison of capitalism's absorption of 'wild' plagues found in our ever shrinking frontiers (due to plummeting natural variety) and the newly produced plagues found in factory farming conditions with Marx's framework of the formal and real subsumption of labor. Oddly this was only discussed in a footnote...a thesis worth expanding on I should think.
The essay on the state makes the powerful point that the essential feature of the modern state is to maintain the conditions required for accumulation and directly represent the interests of the capitalist bloc it represents - all else is secondary and can be experimented with different forms. A powerful argument against those (if many still exist) that wish to believe the Chinese state is somehow not capitalist.
The middle two essays, while not as informative as the other two, shine a nonetheless fascinating light on the concrete experiences of the Chinese people during the pandemic. If you wish to understand how we came to be caught up in seemingly endless cycles of avian flus and understand its relationship to modern production relations, this book is an excellent introduction to the subject. But note that I said it will demystify how we got into this mess...not make you feel better about it.
May 18, 2024
Explosively incisive!
The Chuang Collective is truly a breath of fresh air in the stale Chinese-critical west.
The collective, who work covertly as activists within China mainland, translate and explain the unique way capitalism is experinced there and the organising taking place on the ground. Careful to explain potholes between languages and traditional culture that would confuse a western audience. Eg. The term "mutual-aid" 互助 being far less state-antagonistic within China.
Laying bare the contradictions of CCP within global capitalism whilst navigating sources with full knowledge of their background without losing pace. Also while never-straying into tankie defence they will clearly outline where western myths diverge from truth.
The Chuang Collective is truly a breath of fresh air in the stale Chinese-critical west.
The collective, who work covertly as activists within China mainland, translate and explain the unique way capitalism is experinced there and the organising taking place on the ground. Careful to explain potholes between languages and traditional culture that would confuse a western audience. Eg. The term "mutual-aid" 互助 being far less state-antagonistic within China.
Laying bare the contradictions of CCP within global capitalism whilst navigating sources with full knowledge of their background without losing pace. Also while never-straying into tankie defence they will clearly outline where western myths diverge from truth.
Currently reading
December 13, 2025Deceptively simple.
A discussion on how alterations in the mode of production of animal resources directly shapes the characteristics which allow microbes to thrive.
Shockingly poetic that capitalism literally selectively adapts for virulence at the microbiological level.
A discussion on how alterations in the mode of production of animal resources directly shapes the characteristics which allow microbes to thrive.
Shockingly poetic that capitalism literally selectively adapts for virulence at the microbiological level.
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December 30, 2023Required reading if you have any interest in modern China or international politics. Chuang is great 👍
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