34 Conference and Events PPOL Hosted Book Launch on “How Covid-19 Took Over the World: Lessons for the Future” In March 2023, the Division of Public Policy (PPOL) hosted a book launch for “How Covid-19 Took Over the World: Lessons for the Future” two weeks after the Hong Kong government lifted all mandatory mask-wearing requirements. As the Covid-19 pandemic has swept the world for more than three years, reflecting on the lessons learned at this critical juncture was very timely. We invited the editor and contributing author of the book, Prof. Christine Loh, SBS, JP, OBE, Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, Chief Development Strategist of HKUST; Prof. Hualing Fu, Warren Chan Professor of Human Rights and Responsibilities and Dean of the HKU Faculty of Law, contributing author of the book and keynote speaker of the book launch; Prof. Xiangwei Wang, Associate Professor of Practice at HKBU, former Editor-in-Chief of SCMP, and award-winning journalist as discussant for Prof. Fu’s chapter; Prof. Richard Cullen, Visiting Professor at HKU Law School, contributing author of the book; and Prof. Richard Fielding, psychologist at the Division of Behavioral Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, HKU as discussant for Prof. Cullen’s chapter. Prof. Alex Jingwei He, Associate Professor of PPOL, HKUST served as the MC of the book talk, and Professor Naubahar Sharif, Acting Head and Professor of PPOL, HKUST as the moderator of the panel discussion session. Prof. Christien Loh first introduced how the book “How Covid-19 Took Over the World: Lessons for the Future” came about, tracing to the precursor of the book “At the Epicentre: Hong Kong and the SARS Outbreak” on SARS published in 2004 and gave an overview of the issues and topics addressed in the book about Covid, the book has paid particular attention to adding to the existing knowledge by looking at issues that had been neglected and emphasized the articulation of what happened in Greater China during the pandemic. The book’s first eight chapters serve as background to the neglected issues, with the second half of the book, i.e. Ch. 9-Ch. 13 gives the government’s response to Covid, such as the speakers’ chapters, Prof. Hualing Fu on mainland China’s response to Covid-19 (“Pandemic Control in China’s Gated Communities”), and a chapter about Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and Singapore’s response to Covid (“The Hong Kong From the left: Prof. Xiangwei Wang, Prof. Hualing Fu, Prof. Christine Loh, Prof. Richard Cullen, Prof. Naubahar Sharif, Prof. Alex He
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDk5Njg=