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COVID-19 and the Chinese community in London

Discourse circulation, semantic shifts, and transnational communication in a public health crisis

ORCiD logo with link | SOAS University of London
Published online: 2 March 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.25023.jia
Abstract
Drawing on findings from ten interviews conducted in 2021, this study examines how members of the British Chinese community in London accessed and interpreted COVID-19 pandemic information, the barriers they encountered in institutional health communication, and the shifting meanings of health artefacts. The findings reveal that transnational information flows created both protective advantages and confusion, that communicative inequalities were frequent during the pandemic, and that the semiotic meanings of key health artefacts became politicised and racialised. The analysis makes use of what we propose as an integrative discourse analysis, which examines data using concepts from several theoretical frameworks.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.COVID-19 and Urban Chinese communities
    • 2.1Chinese immigrants in the UK
    • 2.2Caught in racial and social tensions
  • 3.Data and Methods
    • 3.1Conducting the survey and the interviews
    • 3.2Initial findings
      • 3.2.1Accessing COVID-19 information across borders
      • 3.2.2Linguistic Influence on trust in information
      • 3.2.3Experiencing discrimination
      • 3.2.4Public health precautions
      • 3.2.5Use of digital platforms
      • 3.2.6Emotional impacts
  • 4.Analysing pandemic communicative activities through a theoretical lens
    • 4.1Integrative discourse analysis
    • 4.2Diasporic communications as subaltern spheres
    • 4.3Discourse circulation, social context and entextualization
    • 4.4Pandemic discourse and the Four Realms of Reference
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
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