Editor’s note for Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Dear Access member,

Pangolins and pandemics: Will China’s wildlife trade ban work? Dr. Peter Li, an associate professor at the University of Houston-Downtown, whose research focuses on animal rights and contemporary China, will discuss the wildlife trade and the future implications of its recent ban in our next online-only event on March 19. Click here for details.

Thanks to Access member Kate for a correction about a story in last Wednesday’s Access newsletter: Dr. Zhōng Nánshān 钟南山 was not joining the Communist Party, but was leading new members through the oath-taking ceremony. It appears that Zhong has been a dedicated Party member for at least several decades.

People of Asian heritage have been the target of racist abuse in Europe and North America, since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. In Asia, Chinese people have been targeted and discriminated against. That is one point highlighted in an educational resource for teachers published by the nonprofit Facing History, which “uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate.”

Our word of the day is Do not relax in the least (毫不放松 háo bù fàngsōng), an exhortation from China’s leader in today’s state media reports on the fight against COVID-19.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief