"Don't Touch It!" Parcels' Long Way Home in Pandemic-era China

Abstract: This article examines how COVID-19 was constructed as a "social" reality by political authorities in China. Specifically, it analyses the discourse surrounding "harmful parcels" that exaggerated packages' capacity to spread COVID-19 to the population. This case exemplifies how the Chinese government distinguished scientific claims—i.e. those published in scientific journals—from official claims that merely appeared to be scientific. Drawing on content analysis of over 200 sources, including official resolutions and scientific journal articles, the authors demonstrate how the Chinese government framed parcels as a threat to perpetuate unfounded claims about the coronavirus's transmission capacity. Findings in this article suggest that the Chinese government's construction of COVID-19 was shaped by political motivations.