Page 7 - Beyond COVID-19

Civil Resilience Initiatives in Building

Combating the Virus Self-identity un-

he pandemic highlights racial and social inequalities which have existed for a long der the Pandemic
Ttime in many countries. High income earners can continue to work from home and they
are less affected by the pandemic. On the other hand, low income earners are mostly blue
collar workers and they cannot work from home. They have higher risk of being sacked and s a Taiwanese international student
infected by the virus. In such situation, what people need varies from person to person, and Astudying in Japan, I would like to discuss
it is obvious that the government cannot fully cater the needs of everybody. That’s why civic the influence of COVID-19 on my identity as
resilience movements are important during the pandemic. Taiwanese.

Professor Jeff Hou, in his speech “Resilience from the COVID-19 crisis”, introduced some Taiwan was on the alert for this coronavirus
examples of civic resilience initiatives during the pandemic in an online event Beyond COV- in the very early stage of its outbreak in China.
ID-19 with college students from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan on February 19, 2021. Taiwan quickly closed down its border and
strictly conducted quarantine and controlled
These initiatives are developed immigration. We succeeded in keeping COV-
based on people’s daily needs and tar- ID-19 under control, and thus received global
get service gap which the government attention from other countries like we never
fails to fill. In Seattle, homeless people had before. Taiwanese identity or Taiwanese
need somewhere to wash their hands nationalism has been enhanced, not only be-
to avoid infection. Urban Hand Wash- cause Taiwan has become more confident due
ing stations were installed by civic to the success in containing the pandemic, but
society. This did not need help from also due to the stronger desires to distinguish
the government sewage system. Cam- “Taiwan” and “China”. According to Taiwanese
paigners also grew flowers at these Public Opinion Foundation, Taiwanese identity
stations. Flexible and unique ideas of reached the highest point in February, 2020.
civic society can help homeless people
Professor Jeff Hou from the University of Washing- reduce infection risk. This is definitely true for me as well. I used
ton gave a sharing on civil resilience and COV- to think that it was Taiwan's own fault for not
ID-19 during the online colloquium. Some countries which have intro- being viewed as a proper country by the in-
duced authoritarian policies to fight ternational community. I looked down on my
the deadly virus praise their political system for succeeding in combating the pandemic country and thought it was inferior because
compared to countries which adopt democratic or liberal approach. Civic resilience move- Taiwan was not accepted as a member of
ments can be a good example of how civil society can solve problems with people’s power many international organisations such as the
by voluntary work. United Nations or World Health Organization.
This feeling was enhanced after I started to
By Kazuki Tsuda live abroad. I realised that for most people it
is just natural for their countries to be proper-
ly recognised as part of international society.
Japan’s New University Entrance My foreign friends started to recognise
Exams during COVID-19 Taiwan’s success in containing the pandemic.
This definitely fueled my Taiwanese identity,
and I feel proud that my country is a proper
member of the international society.
apan's new form of university entrance exams called the Common Test for University
JAdmissions started on January 16th across the country. Anti-coronavirus measures were
introduced at all examination centres. Candidates were required to wear masks and rub By Airi Chen
hand sanitizer while organisers must ensure all venues were well ventilated.

The new unified examinations, which replaced the National Center Test for University
Admissions, were conducted at 681 venues, with 535,245 candidates sitting for the exami-
nation.
The new tests introduced this year featured more multiple-choice questions and questions
that require critical thinking skills. Also, listening test carries more weight in the overall
grade for English test.

Examinations were also held on January 30 and 31 for third-year high school students
whose studies were interrupted due to the temporary closures of schools last year, during
which Tokyo and 10 other prefectures were under a state of emergency because of the
pandemic. Candidates who were unable to take the examination on January 16 and 17 due
to health and other reasons took the examinations in late January.

Meanwhile, universities in Japan held their own entrance exam in February. It has been a
tough period for the third-year high school students amid COVID-19. Some students were
anxious about the newly introduced examinations while some expressed concerns about
potential infection risk, as they had to travel to examination centres.
Kyushu University student Airi Chen
from Taiwan shared her thoughts about
COVID-19 and her identity.
By Yuka Shu