Chinese in France amid the Covid-19 Pandemic

Simeng Wang is a sociologist and permanent research fellow at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) based in Paris. She has been working on Chinese migration to France since 2009 and has published extensively on the subject. She is the author of the monograph Chinese Migrants in Paris. The Narratives of Illusion and Suffering (Brill, 2021) and the co-editor of Chinese Immigrants in Europe: Image, Identity and Social Participation (Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2020).

"Cet ouvrage comble également une lacune cruciale dans les études des communautés chinoises d’outre-mer et de leurs descendants, en particulier celles résidant en Europe, en ce qui concerne plusieurs sujets de recherche qui restent relativement peu étudiés. […] Une autre contribution importante de cette enquête multidisciplinaire et approfondie est celle de permettre à tout lecteur qui connaît peu de choses sur la migration et la diaspora chinoise en France de se familiariser avec les nombreuses facettes de ce sujet. De plus, il serait souhaitable que cette recherche innovante, rapidement montée et solidement organisée, puisse devenir un exemple pour d’autres analyses concernant d’autres diasporas et communautés migratoires en France."– Claudia Astarita in Hommes & migrations, p. 228-229 (2023) (URL: https://journals.openedition.org/hommesmigrations/16146)"En associant étroitement plusieurs niveaux d’analyse et une multiplicité de thèmes, cet ouvrage collectif constitue à n’en point douter un livre de référence dans l’étude de la population d’origine chinoise en France."– Dominique Vidal in Migrations Société, p. 139-142 (2024)"Cet ouvrage revêt un intérêt particulier dans le domaine des affaires sociales, car il met en lumière une partie de la population qui a entrepris des actions de prévention et d’entraide qui n’ont pas nécessairement été soutenues par le reste de la société ou par l’État. Il décrit une restructuration de la vie quotidienne, accentuée par les discriminations subies par cette communauté."– Lona Defrasne in Revue française des affaires sociales, p. 255-257 (2024)"In this book, the representation of Chinese people goes well beyond that of a population that faced and suffered discriminatory abuse while struggling with repressed daily life and health crises during the pandemic in France. This population is represented within the context of relatively successful solidarity, a population that dealt with it as a community, by campaigning against discrimination."– Takayasu Goto in Journal of Chinese Overseas, p.257-260 (2024)"Chinese in France is admirably comprehensive and provides fertile ground forfuture research. Students, scholars, and policymakers working within and beyondethnic/diaspora studies, East Asian studies, European Studies, digital communication,public health, social work, and more would benefit enormously from the findingsof this book."– Sabrina Lin in Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry (2025)

• AcknowledgmentsList of Tables and FiguresNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: Between Two Worlds: the Chinese Diaspora in France during Covid-19Simeng Wang and Francesco Madrisottisection 1: Everyday Practices and Daily Lives during the Pandemic1 Multilingual Media Consumption by the Chinese People in France during the Covid-19 PandemicFrancesco Madrisotti and Simeng Wang2 Out of Step: Preventive Measures among People of Chinese Origin in France during the Covid-19 PandemicSimeng Wang and Francesco Madrisotti3 Stress and Anxiety among the Chinese Population in France during the Covid-19 Pandemic: a Study Investigating Personal and Societal FactorsFrancesco Madrisotti and Simeng Wang4 Between Safety and Health: How the Pandemic Reshaped Food Behaviors among Chinese People in FranceSimeng Wang, Francesco Madrisotti and Xiabing Chen5 A Community Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic: Collective Actions by Chinese Residents of a Multiethnic Neighborhood in the Northern Suburbs of ParisYong Li and Simeng WangSection 2: Focus on Specific Chinese Populations in France during the Covid-19 Pandemic6 Social Ties of Elderly Migrants during Covid-19: the Chinese in ParisSimeng Wang7 Disruption in Study Abroad during the Pandemic: Chinese Students in FranceYong Li, Ran Yan and Simeng Wang8 Survival during the Pandemic and Coping with Risk: an Ethnography of Vulnerable Chinese Migrants Receiving Food AssistanceFrancesco Madrisotti, Ran Yan and Simeng Wang9 Capitalizing on Opportunities during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Business Transitions among Chinese Entrepreneurs in FranceSimeng Wang and Xiabing ChenSection 3: Citizenship, Mobilization, and Relationship to the Home and Host Countries during the Covid-19 Pandemic10 Anti-Asian Racism during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Experiences, Narratives, and ReactionsSimeng Wang and Francesco Madrisotti11 Caring for Compatriots during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Professional Practices by Health-Care Workers of Chinese Origin in FranceSimeng Wang12 Transnational Solidarity during the Covid-19 Pandemic: the Chinese Diaspora in FranceSimeng Wang and Yong LiConclusionSimeng Wang