Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the most globally disruptive event since the Great Depression in the 1920s and 1930s.It has substantially impacted our way of life over more than two and a half years and has forced us to rethink how we deal with the health, economic, social and environmental challenges ahead.In this special edition, emerging and established academics from Asian Studies, geography, politics, sociology and environmental studies share their latest research and analysis on the pandemic's effects on politics, society and environment in Asia and Australia. Political and social challengesSome of the most significant (post-)COVID challenges in Asia are unfolding in China.China continues to enforce a so-called 'zero-COVID' policy which is characterised by huge-scale, rapid and frequent testing, strict lockdowns, isolation, quarantine and border closures.Such an approach has contributed to the very low pandemic death rate in China since COVID-19 began in Wuhan in late 2019.Chinese leaders strongly believe that the 'zero-COVID' approach could only be applied for such long time in China mainly due to its political system and the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) mobilisation capacity.However, such approach is not only criticised as 'brutal'

China · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Pandemic · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Quarantine · Sociology · Disaster Management and Resilience · Law · Medicine