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Paper short abstract

This presentation offers preliminary thoughts regarding the roles of ordinary urban residents who volunteer at the frontline defence in a Beijing residential community. I suggest that their participation leads to the active production of the "sentinel posts" (Keck 2020) during the epidemic outbreak.

Paper long abstract

It is widely accepted in China that the anti-COVID fighting depends on collective efforts of individuals of the whole country. However, Chinese people's active participation at the individual level in the COVID prevention and control is not self-evident. This presentation seeks to shed light on what ordinary urban residents can contribute to by volunteering at the frontline defence in a neighbourhood community (shequ). Drawing on my short-time participant experience working as a anti-epidemic volunteer and semi-structured interviews with six long-term volunteers at the neighborhood community where I live, I will offer some initial thoughts regarding the roles of anti-epidemic volunteers. I suggest that by performing jobs such as monitoring of incoming visitors, patrolling main entrances of xiaoqu, maintaining a visitor log and identifying potential 'virus carriers', their participation may produce what Keck (2020) has described as the sentinel post during the epidemic outbreak.