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Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2023

Beyond National and Ethnic Boundaries: Transnational Solidarity during the Covid-19 Pandemic from the Case of the Chinese Diaspora in France

Résumé

In this chapter, authors show that the Chinese diaspora in France was proactive in responding to the pandemic: their demonstrations of transnational solidarity by sending and donating PPE were accompanied by the spread of ideas and expert knowledge; and these actions helped the Chinese population in France, institutions and relatives in China, and the living country to fight against Covid-19 and to mitigate its effects. The demonstrations at the beginning of the pandemic observed in the fieldwork recall the classical definition of transnationalism in migration, which is much more oriented toward the home country. But in the second phase analyzed in this chapter, the solidarity was shown with the living society and was mostly carried out by diasporic elites and leaders. Finally, during the normalization of the pandemic in French society, the demonstrations of transnational solidarity by the Chinese diaspora exceeded ethnic boundaries. Hence the meaning of transnationalism gradual widened to include solidarity and transnational circulation not only between Chinese in China and Chinese in France but also between Chinese in France and non-Chinese in France. In this way, this study illustrates that demonstrations of solidarity contribute to the renewal of diaspora organizations and strengthening the sense of belonging and the capacity for action by the diaspora. From a theoretical perspective, transnational solidarity seems to have been renewed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of this unprecedented global health crisis, the collaboration and community across national borders, ethnicities, and professions accelerated and evolved. These transnational practices performed by the Chinese diaspora in France should not be analyzed exclusively from the perspective of the homeland-oriented approach (nationalism/patriotism) or solely through the lens of the living country–oriented approach (the integration of Chinese people into French society). Rather, it should be studied from the perspective of the responsibility of global citizenship at a time of a worldwide crisis, which goes beyond health nationalism. Finally, the many actors in Chinese networks and beyond who participated in offering assistance should be acknowledged: Chinese embassy and government representatives abroad, organization leaders and members, community workers, and ordinary Chinese in other countries. All the actions they took show the multiple scales and multiple directions of the activity. The synergy among all these different actors, not to mention the digital infrastructure, enabled the amassing of solidarity at an unprecedented magnitude.
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Dates et versions

hal-04313008 , version 1 (28-11-2023)

Identifiants

Citer

Simeng Wang, Yong Li. Beyond National and Ethnic Boundaries: Transnational Solidarity during the Covid-19 Pandemic from the Case of the Chinese Diaspora in France. Simeng Wang. Chinese in France amid the Covid-19 Pandemic. Daily Lives, Racial Struggles and Transnational Citizenship of Migrants and Descendants, Brill, pp.347-369, 2023, 9789004678606. ⟨10.1163/9789004678606_014⟩. ⟨hal-04313008⟩
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