[TEASER] China Ep. 7: A Socialist Response to the COVID Pandemic w/ Creighton Ward, Kevin Li, and Alessandro Zancan

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Previously titled “[TEASER] China Pt. 7: A Socialist Response to the COVID Pandemic w/ Creighton Ward, Kevin Li, and Alessandro Zancan” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 4, 2026

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Recorded19 Aug 2025

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This is a free preview of the episode "China Pt. 7: A Socialist Response to the COVID Pandemic w/ Creighton Ward, Alessandro Zancan, and Kevin Li." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You'll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going. In this episode, Part 7 of our ongoing series on China, we take a deep dive into one of the most impressive and underreported achievements of the 21st century: China's Zero COVID policy. Zero COVID was a mostly successful attempt by the world's largest socialist state to protect its population (and, as we'll see, the world's population) from the SARS-CoV virus. Creighton Ward, Kevin Li, and Alessandro Zancan are our guests for this conversation. Creighton is a member of the Friends of Socialist China, Qiao Collective, and a Long COVID, ME/CFS patient advocate. Kevin is a member of Qiao Collective working as a writer and translator and is trained in public health and epidemiology. And Alessandro is a Marxist artist and developer, a member of the Iskra Books editorial board and a member of the Friends of Socialist China Britain Committee. In this conversation we unpack the various elements of China's Zero COVID policy—contact tracing, mass testing, border quarantine, and, of course, lockdowns. We talk about the results that Zero COVID had, which could perhaps be characterized as one of the most remarkable achievements of the 21st century. We compare China's socialist COVID response to that of the West—particularly the US and the UK—and discuss how these very different political and economic systems operate and what this means about how they value human life and societal well-being. We explore China's international solidarity during the initial phases of the pandemic, dispel some of the most common myths about China's COVID response, explore a bit about China's overall healthcare system, and analyze the different experiences of living in a country with socialist values versus living in a country where capital accumulation is all that matters. Further resources: Qiao Collective Friends of Socialist China A look back on three years of China's anti-Covid-19 fight, by Tings Chak Let Them Eat Plague! UCLA Covid Behind Bars Data Project Comparing the response to Covid-19 in China and the US Related episodes: Listen to our ongoing series on China Health Communism with Beatrice Adler-Bolton COVID and the Pandemic with Beatrice Adler-Bolton Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

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