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Xenophobia_and_racism_related_to_the_COVID-19_pandemic

# Background In the past, many diseases have been named after geographical locations, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Zika virus, but in 2015, the World Health Organization introduced recommendations to avoid this practice, to reduce stigma. In accordance with this policy, the WHO recommended the official name "COVID-19" in February 2020. In early coverage of the outbreak, some news sources associated the virus with China in a manner that contributed to stigma. The journal Nature later published an apology for this type of coverage. However, even after the majority of politicians had switched to avoiding stigmatizing language when referring to the virus, a minority continued [4] [5]. Following the progression of the outbreak to new hotspot countries, people from Italy (the first country in Europe to experience a serious outbreak of COVID-19) were also subjected to suspicion and xenophobia, as were people from hotspots in other countries [6] [7]. Discrimination against Muslims in India escalated after public health authorities identified an Islamic missionary (Tablighi Jamaat) group's gathering in New Delhi in early March 2020 as a source of spread. As of late April 2020, Paris had seen riots break out over police treatment of marginalised ethnic groups during the then in-place lockdown [8]. Racism and xenophobia towards southern and south east Asians increased in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf [9]. In China, some people of African descent were evicted from their homes and told to leave China within 24 hours, due to disinformation that they and other foreigners were spreading the virus [10] [11] [12]. This racism and xenophobia was criticised by some foreign governments, diplomatic corps, and the Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe [45]. # Africa ## Cameroon The US embassy in Yaoundé issued a travel warning to US citizens amid reports of "... verbal and online harassment, stone throwing, and banging on vehicles occupied by expatriates". Some residents of Cameroon thought that Europeans and Americans brought COVID to Africa. ## Egypt According to the Embassy of Japan in Cairo, store clerks had been hesitating to serve Japanese customers, and "corona" had become a new slur with which to abuse Japanese people on the street. On 10 March 2020, an Uber driver was arrested after a viral video showing the driver forcibly removing his Chinese passenger at a highway in Cairo's Maadi district on suspicion of having the virus. In the video, a voice is heard in the video jokingly shouting "The first coronavirus case in Egypt!" and the same voice then tells the driver "May God support you, Hajji! Throw him out!". The incident has sparked outrage among Egyptians after the video was uploaded. Some Egyptians visited the Chinese man in his hotel and expressed an apology to him for the incident, widely condemned in the local media as an act of bullying and racism. ## Ethiopia Violence towards foreigners has been reported amidst the pandemic, with some locals attacking foreigners on social media by publishing photos of them and linking them to the coronavirus. The Foreign Correspondents Association of Ethiopia had warned that "dangerous rumours" and "vicious posts" were being spread on the internet about foreign journalists, while other foreigners had been physically attacked. ## Kenya A video reportedly recorded in Kibera, Kenya, in March 2020 shows an angry crowd threatening a man and a woman of East Asian descent about the coronavirus. A man in the crowd shouts at the frightened couple, "You are corona!" A motorcycle rider from the crowd later raised his hand threatening to slap the Asian man. Growing unease towards Chinese immigrants has been reported in the streets of Nairobi and its environment especially towards construction workers. An alleged Kenyan member of parliament posted in a Facebook message that his constituents had the right to stone and chase away any Chinese visitors who were not quarantined. A Kenyan taxi driver told the BBC that Chinese nationals had been changing their usernames on taxi hailing apps to avoid their passenger requests being declined [21]. ## Nigeria Geopolitical analyst Ovigwe Eguegu reported that "a plethora of conspiracy theories, and videos of Asians (some Chinese) eating bats, and other exotic animals" on Nigerian social media has led to increased Sinophobia [23]. ## South Africa An ethnic Chinese man in Johannesburg told the news broadcaster Deutsche Welle that violent comments such as "wipe the Chinese people out" and "hope this virus gets all of them" have been expressed in the country by locals. Additionally, one of the earliest reactions of the South African government with regard to COVID-19 prevention was to build a forty-kilometer (25 mi) fence on the border with Zimbabwe [25]. This action was intended to "ensure that no undocumented or infected persons cross into the country", according to Public Works Minister Patricia de Lille. In February 2021, the Director of The Jesuit Institute South Africa, Father Russell Pollitt, criticized as potentially xenophobic Health Minister Dr [26]. Zweli Mkhize's announcement that COVID-19 vaccine distribution would be limited to only South African citizens. # Asia ## Bangladesh The Bangladeshi government has sent dozens of Rohingya refugees, who had remained stranded at sea for several weeks, to Bhasan Char, an uninhabited island in the estuary of the Meghna river. Hundreds more remain stranded on two overcrowded trawlers between Bangladesh and Malaysia. Human rights groups have criticised the Bangladeshi and Malaysian governments for using the coronavirus pandemic as a pretext to send away refugees. ## Mainland China There have been instances of Wuhan natives in other provinces being turned away from hotels, having their ID numbers, home addresses and telephone numbers deliberately leaked online or dealing with harassing phone calls from strangers. Some places also reportedly had signs saying "people from Wuhan and cars from Hubei are not welcome here." Many hotels and guesthouses refrained from people who had addresses in Wuhan [29]. Multiple hotels purportedly refused to check-in a Wuhan tour guide after she returned to Hangzhou from Singapore with one of them calling the police to give her a health check and asking the police to quarantine her [30]. Amidst these incidents, various cities and prefectures outside of Hubei adopted resettlement measures for Hubei people in their region such as designated hotel accommodation for visitors from the province. In Zhengding, Jingxing and Luquan of Shijiazhuang City, the local governments rewarded anyone who reported those who had been to Wuhan, but not recorded in official documents at least 1,000 yuan RMB [31]. In Meizhou, residents reporting people entering from Hunan were awarded thirty face masks. It was reported that on a scheduled 27 January China Southern Airlines flight from Nagoya to Shanghai, some Shanghainese travellers refused to board with 16 others from Wuhan. Two of the Wuhan travellers were unable to board due to a fever while the Shanghainese on the spot alleged that the others had taken medicine to bypass the temperature check. One of the Wuhan tourists protested on Weibo, "are they really my compatriots?" which a Shanghai tourist who was purportedly at the scene replied that they did it to protect Shanghai from the virus [29]. Many netizens criticized the Wuhan tourists for travelling with a fever, although some also called for understanding and for Shanghainese not to regionally discriminate [31]. On 1 April, three Americans cut in line at a medical facility in Qingdao, Shandong province. When confronted, one American claimed that there were eight million Chinese in America and that he would tell them all to get out. The three Americans were allowed to skip the line and the staff told the ones who confronted them that it was their way of showing respect to foreigners. In March and April 2020, media outlets reported instances of xenophobia towards foreigners, although according to The Globe and Mail on 10 April, Chinese officials denied the existence of any such discrimination within China [36]. It has been attributed to fears of a second wave of the coronavirus, although the Chinese vice-foreign minister noted that ninety percent of imported COVID-19 cases were PRC nationals returning from overseas [37]. According to The Telegraph, foreigners are being barred from hotels, supermarkets, and restaurants, while others have had their visas cancelled and reentry into China barred [38] [39]. The Guardian reported on 29 March of foreigners being shouted at by local residents, avoided in public places, and sometimes scolded as "foreign trash" [40]. Shanghaiist has referenced stories of foreigner misbehaviour circulating on the Chinese internet as playing a role in the increased xenophobia [41]. A comic posted on Weibo depicts people in hazmat suits disinfecting foreigners and throwing them in waste bins [42]. In April 2020, several reports emerged in Guangzhou of African nationals being evicted from their homes by local police and told to leave, with no place to sleep, amidst some recent Chinese news articles negatively reporting on Nigerians in the city. The reports of discrimination created controversy in Africa damaging Sino-African relations, and sparked a diplomatic crisis, with African governments and diplomats speaking out against the incidents in Guangzhou [44] [45] [46] [47] [48]. The Nigerian legislator Oloye Akin Alabi posted a video of his confronting the PRC's ambassador Zhou Pingjian over the alleged mistreatment of Nigerians in the city [49]. The governments of Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda have also asked for explanations from the PRC government, and the African Union Commission invited the PRC ambassador to the African Union to discuss the mistreatment allegations. The African ambassadors summarised the complaints in an official protest letter demanding the cessation of reported ejection from hotels or apartments, forced testing and quarantine, the seizure of passports, and threats of visa revocation, arrest or deportation of Africans particularly in the Guangdong province [50]. In response, Chinese authorities issued measures discouraging Guangzhou businesses and rental houses from refusing people based on race or nationality and encouraged foreigners to report discrimination to a 24-hour hotline [51]. Some locals coordinated food donations and listed available hotels online to African residents [52] [554]. China initially placed land mines in selected regions along its border with Myanmar, which were later replaced by a barbed wire fence along 1,000 kilometers of the Myanmese border, for the stated goal of reducing cross-border COVID-19 infections. Other government sources suggested that pandemic restrictions were secondary to a desire to block the transmission of foreign ideas across the once-porous border region, citing a desire to specifically restrict the flow of Christianity and Buddhism into China. ## Hong Kong More than a hundred restaurants in Hong Kong turned away customers from mainland China, with one restaurant demanding that a customer produce a Hong Kong identity card to prove they were not from the mainland. Tenno Ramen, a Japanese noodle restaurant in Hung Hom, refused to serve mainland Chinese customers [56]. The restaurant said on Facebook, "We want to live longer. We want to safeguard local customers. Please excuse us." Another example is Kwong Wing Catering, a pro-2019–20 Hong Kong protests restaurant chain, which announced on Facebook on 28 January 2020 that it would serve only English- or Cantonese-speaking customers (no Mandarin-speakers customers allowed) since the government did not implement a border closure against mainland China [57]. However, Mandarin is also the common tongue in Taiwan, so the said Facebook post was then updated a day later to clarify that they welcome Taiwanese customers. Many protesters in Hong Kong have reportedly insisted on calling COVID-19 the "Chinese Virus" or "Chinese coronavirus". Expats and South Asian minorities have also faced increased xenophobia, with media narratives blaming them as more likely to spread the virus [60]. ## Indonesia The Foreign Policy reported that "On social media, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram posts encourage people to stay away from places where Chinese citizens or Chinese-heritage Indonesians work and live. ... Major media outlets are also complicit in spreading anti-Chinese conspiracies." Several Indonesian Muslims online have also linked the virus with China's mistreatment of Uighur Muslims, and that it is "an azab (punishment) from Allah" [63]. A demonstration was staged outside a hotel in Bukittinggi, rejecting the visit of tourists from Southern China who stayed there amid fear of coronavirus. The demonstrators demanded that the tourists be isolated in an airport, and displayed distrust over screening tools in airports. It ended after police guaranteed that the tourists would stay in the hotel up to the following day, when the tourists depart from the city. In a press release, the embassy of Japan in Indonesia said incidents of discrimination and harassment toward Japanese people had increased in the midst of the pandemic, and announced they had set up a help center to assist Japanese residents dealing with these incidents. In general, there have been reports of widespread anti-Japanese discrimination and harassment in the country, with hotels, stores, restaurants, taxi services and more refusing Japanese customers, and many Japanese people were no longer allowed in meetings and conferences [67]. The embassy of Japan has also received at least a dozen reports of harassment toward Japanese people in just a few days. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan) said anti-Japanese discrimination was on the increase in the country [68] [69]. ## India People from Northeastern India have reportedly faced increased discrimination and harassment due to their "Chinese" appearance. Northeast Indian students in Kirori Mal College, Delhi, have filed a complaint to college authorities about harassment in the hands of other students over the fears of coronavirus [71]. Eight students from Northeast India at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai also alleged that they were subjected to racism and harassment [72]. A survey by The Takshashila Institution found that 52.8% of Indian respondents felt terms such as "Chinese Virus" and "Made in China Pandemic" were not racist or stigmatising to the country. The Bharatiya Janata Party's State unit president in West Bengal Dilip Ghosh said the Chinese had "destroyed nature" and "that's why the God took revenge against them." The remarks were later condemned by the Chinese consulate in Kolkata, calling them "erroneous" [74]. In March 2020, foreigners from Europe, the United States, and Israel started facing xenophobia and discrimination, including evictions from rented homes. Muslim gatherings organised by the Tablighi Jamaat has resulted in large increased of cases in India, which has triggered Islamophobic reactions and increased communal tension [77]. Islamophobic hashtags began circulating shortly after the news broke in late March, and a wave of anti-Muslim violence was reported in April [78] [79] [80]. In Jharkhand, hospitals refusing to treat Muslim patients because coronavirus-related Islamophobia have led to the deaths of at least two newborn babies [81]. There have been a few reports of increased anti-Christian violence and discrimination amidst the coronavirus lockdown. ## Iran The Iranian government has blamed the country's outbreak on the "Zionists". The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran has claimed that Israel released the virus as a form of biological warfare. These claims were seen to be antisemitic by American academic Walter Russell Mead and some Jewish organisations, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) [86]. According to the Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japanese people have been denied entry to restaurants and experienced increased abuse since the pandemic. ## Israel More than 1,000 South Korean tourists were instructed to avoid public places and remain in isolation in their hotels. The Israeli military announced its intention to quarantine some 200 South Korean nationals to a military base [89]. Many of the remaining South Koreans were rejected by hotels and were forced to spend nights at Ben Gurion Airport [90]. An Israeli newspaper subsequently published a Korean complaint that "Israel is Treating [Korean and other Asian] Tourists Like Coronavirus" [91]. Public health expert Dr [92]. Hagai Levine said Israeli politicians may be overreaching to impress voters. On 14 March 2020, an Indian man from the Bnei Menashe community was attacked and beaten by two Israeli men in Tiberias who called him "Chinese" and shouted "Corona" during the attack. The man was hospitalized at the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Tiberias [94]. ## Japan In Japan, the hashtag #ChineseDontComeToJapan had been trending on Twitter; furthermore, on Twitter, Japanese people have called Chinese tourists "dirty", "insensitive", and "bioterrorists" [95]. A server at a restaurant in Ito, a Japanese city on the Izu Peninsula south of Tokyo, was recorded shouting at a tourist "China! Out!" A Chinese woman, who was the target of the outburst, immediately left the restaurant. A confectionery shop in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, put up a sign saying "No Chinese allowed!" prompting Chinese citizens to boycott the store. According to an Ipsos MORI poll conducted in February 2020, 28% of Japanese respondents said they would consider avoiding people of Chinese origin in the future to protect themselves from coronavirus. Ueno Sanji, a ramen restaurant in Tokyo has banned foreigners from dining there, with the owner claiming that he is doing so to protect his family, employees and regular customers. Onoda Kimi  [ja], a Liberal Democratic Party Councillor from Okayama Prefecture, tweeted, in reference to stimulus by the Government of Japan, that only adults with Japanese citizenship should be eligible, and not non-citizens who paid taxes in Japan. In response to the tweet, people who perceived it as racism launched a petition to demand Onoda's resignation from the Diet on Change.org. ## Jordan In March 2020, a Korean working in Jordan since 2014 reported to the police that he was beaten and mocked because he was suspected of having the COVID-19 virus. An incident of a Korean working in Jordan, who was not allowed into a taxi for similar reasons was also reported [102]. According to Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there have been incidents of Japanese people in Jordan being chased by locals since the pandemic started. ## Kazakhstan In February 2020, a conflict broke out between ethnic Kazakhs and Chinese Muslims. According to The Diplomat, "In the hours following the incident, fake news about 'ruthless pogroms in Kazakhstan around the spreading of coronavirus' circulated around social media, fueling hysteria in other parts of the country." [104] [105]. ## Kuwait To address the deficit in the capacity at Kuwaiti hospitals to help in the COVID-19 outbreak, Kuwaiti actress Hayat Al-Fahad called for the deportation of migrant workers or to "throw them in the desert". Her comments generated both outrage and support on social media in Kuwait [106] [10]. ## Malaysia A petition in Malaysia calling for citizens from China to be banned from entering the country claimed that the "new virus is widely spread throughout the world because of their unhygenic lifestyle". The petition was reportedly signed by just over 250,000 people within a week [107]. Islamophobia also occurs since March when social media users insult groups of Tabligh people as the cluster related to Sri Petaling Tabligh gathering cause it to experiencing sudden jump in number of cases in Malaysia. According to Human Rights Watch and the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, more than 700 foreign migrant workers and refugees including stateless Rohingya refugees have been detained by Malaysian police during the coronavirus pandemic. Police have claimed that the arrests were intended to prevent undocumented migrants from traveling to other areas as part of lockdown movement restrictions [110]. In response to the arrests, the United Nations in Malaysia's Head of Communications and Advocacy, Ahmad Hafiz Osman, to avoid detaining refugees and not to hinder them from seeking medical treatment [111]. The Home Affairs Minister Hamzah Zainuddin had earlier described the Rohingya as "illegal immigrants", who "have no status, right and basis to present any demands to the government". In addition, there have been incidents of xenophobia against Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, such as Malaysian politicians and locals expressing violent hate speech online, accusing the Rohingya of committing crimes and dominating parts of the capital Kuala Lumpur [113] [114]. Names and photos of activists have been circulated on social media, and there have been several online petitions calling for the deportation of Rohingya on Change.org. This surge in hostility has been fueled by negative perceptions about Rohingya refugees and inflammatory news stories on social media. According to The Star newspaper, there were also reports of Rohingya individuals making racially-tinged and provocative comments in social media videos targeting the Malay ethnicity community, which have strained relations between the two ethnic communities [111] [115]. Rohingya community spokespersons have said the community is living in state of fear while the NGOs Mercy Malaysia and the Malaysian Relief Agency urged the public to show empathy and mercy towards the refugees during Ramadan [116]. On 11 May 83, human rights and civil society organisations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Article 19, and the International Committee of Jurists called on Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to address online hate speech and violent threats against Rohingya refugees [115]. On 21 June, Malaysian human rights NGO Aliran raised concerns about the living and working conditions of foreign migrant workers, many of whom had become infected with COVID-19. Aliran also criticised "inflammatory" media coverage for fueling xenophobia and hostility against migrant workers. On 25 June, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall restricted refugees' access to the city's wholesale market, allowing them entry only if they possessed valid permits and were accompanied by Malaysians. The City Hall does not recognise identity cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This ruling was criticised by Yemen Refugee Union representative Dr Mohammed Al Radhi and Alliance of Chin Refugees coordinator James Bawi Thang Bik as discriminatory and inhumane towards refugee communities. On 27 June, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Malaysia could not accommodate more Rohingya refugees due to a struggling economy and dwindling resources. Malaysia does not recognise their refugee status and has turned away incoming boats and detained hundreds of refugees. The Prime Minister also called upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to speed up the resettlement of Rohingya refugees in third party countries. In early July 2020, an Al Jazeera documentary titled "Locked Up in Malaysia's Lockdown" alleged that illegal migrants and foreign workers had subjected to racism and mistreatment by Malaysian authorities during the country's lockdown. The Malaysian Government criticised the documentary as "misleading" and "inaccurate", with Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob demanding an apology from the news network. The Royal Malaysian Police have launched an investigation into the documentary while the Immigration Department of Malaysia have sought to question a Bangladeshi migrant interviewed in the documentary. In response, several civil society organisations including the Centre for Independent Journalism issued a statement calling on the Malaysian Government to cease intimidating media and to protect the rights of migrant workers [122] [123] [124]. The Bangladeshi migrant, who was identified as Mohammad Rayhan Kaybir, was subsequently deported to Bangladesh on 22 August [125]. ## Palestine On 1 March 2020, a Palestinian mother with her daughter chanted "corona, corona" to the two Japanese women who were in Ramallah for non-governmental aid mission. The mother then attacked and pulled the hair of one of the Japanese women who attempted to record the incident [127] [128]. According to the Embassy of Japan, there have been at least another ten reports of anti-Japanese incidents related to the pandemic, as of early March [129]. ## Philippines Various Filipino-Chinese advocacy groups have warned that racism against the Chinese community has risen after the outbreak has started. The Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc and the Trade Union of Congress of the Philippines have condemned anti-Chinese propaganda with links to the virus [130]. Adamson University, a prominent Catholic school in Manila, received online backlash for ordering all its Chinese students to quarantine themselves amid the new coronavirus outbreak [130]. A crematorium refused to handle the corpse of a Chinese national who died from the virus [131]. President Rodrigo Duterte has made appeals to the public to stop discriminating against anyone who merely happens to be of Chinese ancestry. ## Saudi Arabia Images of a South Asian migrant worker who was dressed as a human hand sanitiser while wearing a face mask for Saudi Aramco went viral online and sparked global outrage and was cited as another example of "coronavirus racism". The company later apologised for the incident [134] [135]. ## Singapore An online petition urging the government of Singapore to ban Chinese nationals and travellers from China from entering the island country was signed by 125,000 people. The Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered an investigation against an Islamic teacher, Abdul Halim bin Abdul Karim, after he had posted on Facebook that the coronavirus pandemic was "a retribution by Allah against the Chinese for their oppressive treatment of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang". In a separate post, Abdul Halim claimed that Chinese people do not wash properly after defecating and were not as hygienic as Muslims, causing the virus to spread. Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam slammed the comments as "silly", "xenophobic" and "thoroughly racist" and is "quite unacceptable from anyone, let alone someone who is supposed to be a religious teacher". The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore said it is aware of the post, which "expresses views that do not represent the Muslim community" and was investigating the matter [138]. In response, Abdul Halim said his Facebook post, written in Malay, was not intended to be racist and did not target "any particular race" [139]. Due to the Indian variant, a 55-year-old Singaporean-Indian female was being attacked for not properly wearing a mask. This has been condemned by several local politicians including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Xenophobic sentiments toward Indian immigrants in the country reportedly increased as of May 2021, with Minister of Law K [141] [142]. Shanmugam condemning a minority of Singaporeans online for describing Indians as "cockroaches" and "rapists". ## South Korea More than 760,000 South Korean citizens have signed a petition lobbying the government to ban Chinese tourists from entering the country. The Daegu Lantern Festival posted a notice in English that no foreigners are allowed to visit their festival [144] [145]. In February 2020, an entrance to a South Korean restaurant in downtown Seoul reportedly had a sign in red Chinese characters stating: "No Chinese Allowed". "No Chinese" signs have been cropping up, and some businesses are banning all foreigners [147]. ## Sri Lanka A group of Singaporean Chinese tourists were reportedly denied permission to climb the tourist attraction Ella Rock due to their appearance. ## Taiwan As early as May 2020, an alliance of migrant worker groups called the Migrants Empowerment Network in Taiwan (MENT) protested that some local employers had barred their workers from going outside due to the pandemic. After Miaoli County recorded 300 cases of COVID-19 within a one-week period involving tech-factory migrant workers, local magistrate Hsu Yao-chang announced on 7 June 2021 that migrant workers in the county were not allowed to leave their living quarters for any reason. Afterwards, local authorities were accused of placing discriminatory restrictions on Southeast Asian workers such as confining them to their dormitories, questioning and threatening them with fines if found on the streets, and in some cases, making them sign documents stating that if they contract COVID-19, they alone would bear the expenses for treatment [151]. On 9 June 2021, Miaoli County also extended the blanket stay-at-home order to caregivers, after locals complained that caregivers were "chatting in groups" while taking their elderly wards outside. The magistrate lifted the ban on 29 June, the same day the Ministry of Labour Affairs released a statement warning that such arbitrary restrictions would be treated as "a criminal offence". [152]. According to a migrant rights group survey cited by The Straits Times in July 2021, more than 60 per cent of Filipino migrant workers said they were no longer allowed to leave their dorms outside of work hours. Some Taiwanese have reportedly made comments that Indonesian workers "are all dangerous" and "have a higher risk of being infected by and transmitting the virus than Taiwanese" [151]. ## Thailand A restaurant in Chiang Mai displayed a sign which read, "We apologize we are not accepting CHINESE customers. Thank you." after a customer left the restaurant upon noticing a group of Chinese people inside. The police demanded that the sign be taken down, but suggested that it could be rewritten in Chinese as "We ran out of food". A similar sign was seen outside a restaurant in Ao Sane Beach in Phuket [154]. Graffiti artist Headache Stencil reportedly tweeted, "Hey Chink! Please go back to ur shit-eating country. Our government need ur money to keep their power but you all not welcome for us now. #notwelcometothailand #backtourchinklandpls". Health minister Anutin Charnvirakul made negative comments about "dirty" Westerners, saying they "never shower" and are more likely to spread the virus than Asians. He later apologised for the comments [156] [157]. In December 2020, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said illegal immigration was behind a new wave of COVID-19 infection in the country. Migrant workers from neighboring Myanmar bore the brunt of the blame, including incendiary social media posts advocating violence, such as "wherever you see Myanmar people, shoot them down," and refusal of service across Thai society, with Burmese citizens refused access to buses, motorcycle taxis, and offices. COVID-19 xenophobia also led to a reawakening of anger related to the 18th century destruction by Burmese forces of Ayutthaya, capital of what was then known as Siam, now Thailand. The head of Thailand's COVID-19 task force pleaded for tolerance in a televised broadcast, appealing to common religious values: "Today they are our family ... Both Myanmar and Thai people are Buddhists." In January 2021, however, 19 migrants from Myanmar, all Rohingya Muslims, were arrested at a crowded house near Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok [159]. Authorities claimed that seven of the allegedly unauthorized migrants had tested positive for the coronavirus. ## Turkey While in 2019, a poll estimated that 83.2% of Turks wanted all Syrian refugees returned, the pandemic caused a further rise of xenophobia and anti-refugee sentiment in Turkey. A couple of religious news outlets have reported a spike in attacks on Turkish churches, with some scapegoating Christians for the coronavirus crisis in Turkey [161]. Some Israeli researchers and Jewish Turks reported in 2020 that antisemitic conspiracy theories blaming Jews for COVID-19 were spreading on Turkish social media [162] [163]. ## United Arab Emirates Following comments made by Kuwaiti actress Hayat Al-Fahad about the deportation of migrant workers to the desert or to their countries of origin due to COVID-19, Emirati poet Tariq Al-Mehyas clarified Al-Fahad's comments by stating "When we say "migrants" we mean Asians [not Arabs]" [106]. He went on to say that Arab workers from countries such as Egypt and Sudan were better than Asian (Indian and Bengali) workers and said Asians in the Gulf are never treated equally with Arabs [166]. When his comments generated widespread outrage in the UAE, he said he was not racist because he had an Asian maid [166]. Al-Mehyas was later arrested by Emirati authorities for inciting hatred [167] [168]. ## Vietnam Asia Times reported that "A number of Vietnamese hotels and guesthouses have reportedly hung signs on their doors saying Chinese guests are not welcome, while many Vietnamese have gone online to demand the closure of all border crossings with China." Signs suggesting that Chinese customers are not accepted were seen in front of a shop in Phu Quoc and a restaurant in Da Nang [169]. Anger was also reported due to the increasing number of the infected cases coming from the Muslim community returning from Malaysia following their attendance of the Tablighi Jamaat festival in Sri Petaling mosque, and two to three patients did not obey the self-quarantine law in Vietnam and still attended Islamic events in Ho Chi Minh City, leading to fury and demands to imprison the Muslim population, even among Vietnamese celebrities. # Europe ## Belgium There have been reports by Asian people of increased racism in Belgium due to the pandemic. A Belgian woman of Chinese origin was called "coronavirus", threatened, and spat on by five youths in Schaerbeek. A photograph depicting high school students in Chinese costumes while holding a sign that said "Corona Time" was posted on the official Facebook and Instagram of Sint-Paulusschool Campus College Waregem, a secondary school, in March 2020. One of the students added latex gloves and a medical mask to his attire in reference to the outbreak, while another student stretched her eyes in a racist gesture [174] [175] [176] [174] [176]. The photograph was removed after online backlash [174] [175]. The school released a statement, claiming that the school team and the last-grade students had no intention to be condescending or offensive [174] [175]. In Brussels, a 22-year-old man punched a 24-year-old Asian man and accused him of being "the cause" of coronavirus in Belgium. ## Croatia On 15 February 2020, during a Croatian Table Tennis Superleague match which was played in Dubrovnik between the local team Libertas Marinkolora and guest team STK Starr from Varaždin, a number of insulting comments were posted on the official Libertas Marinkolora Facebook page towards a Croatian player of Chinese origin, Tan Ruiwu of STK Starr which referenced the coronavirus. This included a comment by the manager of Libertas Marinkolor Marko Habijanec in which he instructed one of his players (who was facing Tan in the next match) to "Beat this virus". The comments were subsequently deleted. Libertas Marinkolor eventually issued an apology and condemnation of the incident [178]. ## Denmark In January 2020, Jyllands-Posten received international attention when it published a cartoon depicting the Chinese flag with yellow virus-like figures instead of the usual yellow stars. The Chinese embassy in Denmark demanded an official apology from the newspaper. However, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, refused to apologize officially on behalf of the Danish government, declaring that there is freedom of speech in Denmark [180]. ## Finland Asians in Finland have reported instances of discrimination prompted by the novel coronavirus outbreak in China. Various people with backgrounds in China, Vietnam, and Japan told Yle that they feel to have been subjected to racist treatment since news broke about the virus. On 23 February, Helsinki Times reported that at least one Chinese restaurant in Helsinki had seen a downturn in bookings since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak [182]. A Chinese supermarket reported a dramatic drop in people coming into the store but an uptick in online sales, with customers opting to have goods delivered to their homes. ## France Asians in Paris reported an increase in racism and harassment. French newspaper Le Courrier Picard featured an Asian woman wearing a mask on its front page on 26 January 2020 with a headline "Yellow Alert". The paper also titled an editorial "A New Yellow Peril" [186]. The publication drew condemnation from French Asians who started the hashtag #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus (which translates to "I Am Not A Virus") [187]. Other French newspapers called COVID-19 the "Chinese Virus" at the beginning of the outbreak, which could stigmatise people of Chinese descent [188]. Numerous reports indicate a significant increase in harassment and violent attacks toward people of certain Asian origins [189] [190]. Some children of Asian descent were ostracised and mocked over their origins in middle schools near Paris [191] [192]. Non-Western restaurants, including Chinese, Thai, Cambodian, and Japanese have reported a decline in customers. The scale of the decline typically ranged from thirty to fifty percent. Many French-Vietnamese reported being subject to harassment since the pandemic began in Wuhan. South Korean media reported increased animosity toward their nationals. Japan's public service broadcaster NHK, which provides a list of overseas safety information for travelers, listed anti-Japanese discrimination in February 2020 as a concern when traveling to France and other European countries. Some Japanese nationals reported an increase in anti-Japanese incidents, such as being mocked on the street, being refused taxi service, and least one Japanese restaurant was vandalized [199]. A Japanese actress working for the French company Louis Vuitton received a number of coronavirus-related comments on the company's Instagram page, which the company later deleted [200] [201] [202]. A group of Japanese students on a study tour in Paris received abuse by locals [203]. A group of Japanese citizens were also targeted by acid attacks, prompting the Japanese embassy as well as the foreign ministry to issue a warning to Japanese nationals in France, urging caution [16]. Due to such incidents, a Japanese TV announcer in Paris said it was best not to speak Japanese in public [204] [205]. ## Germany Numerous racial incidents and discrimination against those of Asian descent in Germany have been reported by news media. According to an Ipsos MORI poll in early February, 28% of German respondents would consider avoiding people of Chinese origin in the future to protect themselves from the coronavirus [207] [208]. The weekly magazine Der Spiegel has published a controversial cover which has been considered by some as blaming China for the outbreak and fueling xenophobia. The Chinese Embassy in Berlin has acknowledged a rise in hostile cases against its citizens since the outbreak. On 1 February 2020, a 23-year-old Chinese citizen in Berlin reportedly received racist insults and was subsequently beaten by two unknown assailants, in an incident classified by police as "xenophobic" [213]. A Chinese student from Chengdu living in Berlin was given two weeks notice to leave her sublet apartment by her landlord, German actress Gabrielle Scharnitzky. Scharnitzky defended her actions, stating "I had to protect myself against a real possible danger of infection by a person returning from a virus-contaminated area, entering and leaving my home and thus endangering my health and the health of my visitors" [215]. The student reportedly informed Scharnitzky in January of her intentions to visit China, though this trip never took place [216]. On 5 February 2020, a Chinese woman in Berlin, who had not visited China in three months, was reportedly turned away by her gynecologist, claiming the coronavirus may infect pregnant women in the clinic. In the same month, a Chinese student in Essen with a sore throat was denied an appointment by a general practitioner over coronavirus fears, despite not having been to China since September 2019 [218]. She was instead told to go the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with bronchitis. [219]. In Munich, a German woman of Chinese descent was assaulted by a neighbor, who sprayed her with disinfectant, screamed "Corona" at her, and threatened to cut her head off. The man is facing charges of assault and threat; the state protection department is investigating a possible racist motive for the crime. A restaurant run by a well-known chef announced a ban on people of Chinese descent [220]. German football club RB Leipzig denied entry to a group of twenty Japanese fans over coronavirus fears. In Nuremberg, locals threw raw eggs at homes owned by Japanese residents [222]. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan), anti-Japanese discrimination has been rising in Germany [223]. The embassy of South Korea in Germany warned its citizens of rising anti-Korean violence. In February 2021, a Bayern3 radio host apologized for comparing the worldwide popularity of the South Korean K-pop group BTS to "some crappy virus that hopefully there will be a vaccine for soon as well" [224]. The incident prompted many South Koreans living abroad to express concerns that such remarks would further incite racist violence against them [225]. In Hamburg, a German family of Turkish descent had received a threatening letter that allegedly contains the coronavirus. A 2021 Institute for Strategic Dialogue report for the European Commission found an increase in antisemitic posts on the German-language Telegram, with narratives recasting COVID-19 as a "Zionist bioweapon". ## Hungary Chinese-owned businesses, including those in the predominantly Asian Józsefváros Market in Budapest, have reported a significant drop in sales, which owners have attributed to the coronavirus. Some businesses have opted to signal to potential customers that they are from another Asian country. Antisemitic comments have been documented on Hungarian social media alleging that the coronavirus was created by Jews in the US or Zionists in Israel to rule the world. To a lesser extent, some comments also blamed the Chinese for the virus, calling them "yellow Jews" or "the Jews of the East". ## Ireland On 8 August 2020, two men of Chinese origin, Martin Hong and Arthur Ma, were attacked in a physical and verbal racist assault whilst shopping in a supermarket in Cork County Cork. The assault happened after Martin and Arthur were racially abused by a group of teenagers who were shouting "Chinese virus". Hong and Ma asked the teenagers to repeat what they said after removing their phones. To which the teenagers retaliated by violently punching the pair. An elderly woman raised the alarm by contacting Gardaí. Hong and Ma spent six hours receiving medical care after the pair were admitted to Cork University Hospital. Gardaí later issued a statement about the incident which was confirmed and they said they were following a "definite line of enquiry". On 14 August 2020 Gardaí Síochána are investigating a racist verbal and physical assault in Dublin County Dublin after a video, which was posted on two separate TikTok accounts of an Asian woman Xuedan (Shelley) Xiong being filmed, being pushed into the Royal Canal between Castleknock and Ashtown by a group of boys who raced towards her on bicycles, as if to push her into the canal after she confronted them for making racial slurs by shouting "Coronavirus" towards her [234]. The video was deleted along with the accounts, which were suspended. Xiong is now afraid to leave her home. Xiong was heard telling the group "not to racially discriminate, that's criminal" before some of the boys pushed her into the canal some of the boys were heard mocking her screams and laughing as they cycled off. Gardaí Síochána said the boys are unlikely to be charged or cautioned. On 4 November 2020, an account alleged to belong to Rebecca Barrett, wife of National Party leader Justin Barrett, tweeted racist remarks towards Dublin mayor Hazel Chu. Responding to a Tweet where Chu said she was awake watching the results of the 2020 United States presidential election, the account replied "Since you're up anyway, we'll have a sweet and sour chicken, a szechuan beef and two fried rice please. No bat." The tweet was later removed by Twitter. In March 2021, a 51-year-old Asian woman was attacked by a dozen male teenagers on Henry Street in Dublin, who circled her, hit her, threw a rubbish bag in her face, filmed her with their phones, and used a racial slur. She stated that, "This is just the latest in the chain of violence and hate crime I've witnessed and [been] subjected to on the streets of Dublin." [237]. ## Italy La Repubblica reported that the director of Rome's prestigious Santa Cecilia music conservatory, Roberto Giuliani, suspended lessons for all students of East Asian origin – Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, with the Chinese being the largest group affected – due to the epidemic. Though it was noted that many of the students were second-generation immigrants. According to The Washington Post, people especially from South Korea and China experienced increased mockery and discrimination. It was posted on social media that a bar around the Trevi Fountain had a sign not allowing entrance to anyone from China because of "international safety measures". It was later removed by police. Dozens of Chinese stores were vandalized in the northern towns of Como, Brescia, and Varese. Many Chinese stores reported a decline in business. People of Chinese descent, as well as those of Filipino origin who were perceived as being "Chinese" reported assaults (some serious enough to require hospitalization), harassment, and being refused services. Some public officials asked students of Chinese/East Asian origin to stay home. On 24 February 2020, a Chinese man was barred from entering a gas station in Cassola in Vicenza, Veneto and was told "You have coronavirus, you cannot enter!" at which point somebody broke a bottle on his head causing severe injuries. The same day, an elderly Filipino pensioner was attacked and punched in a supermarket in the town of Mariano Comense, in Como, Lombardy [243]. Singer and TV personality Francesco Facchinetti was seen intervening and defending the victim. Veneto regional governor Luca Zaia apologized after claiming the Chinese eat live mice. On 8 March 2020, a Japanese restaurant in Rivoli, in Torino, Piedmont was the target of an arson attack by a group of teens who taunted the owners, calling them carriers of the epidemic. ## Netherlands Dutch public broadcasting news network NOS has reported that on many of its Facebook and Instagram posts about the coronavirus, there have been a great number of "racist, discriminating and anti-Chinese comments". Dutch residents of Asian descent report having been called out as carriers of the coronavirus during their commute, in the supermarket, in school, and on social media. On 6 February 2020, radio DJ Lex Gaarthuis presented his Carnaval song "Voorkomen is beter dan Chinezen" (a pun on the proverb Voorkomen is beter dan genezen – "prevention is better than cure" – with Chinezen referring to both Chinese people and eating Chinese food) on national radio station Radio 10 under his alter ego Toon, which includes the lyrics "we can't have the virus in our country, it is all caused by these stinking Chinese people" and "don't eat Chinese food". After many complaints were issued against Radio 10 and Gaarthuis, primarily by the Chinese community in the Netherlands, both the station and artist made formal apologies, with Gaarthuis saying the song was meant to be satirical but had overshot its mark. Ironically, the virus was spread significantly during the Carnaval period [248]. On 8 February 2020, a group of Chinese students living in a student dormitory of Wageningen University discovered that their floor had been vandalized. Damages included a Chinese flag torn from a student's door and shredded and walls defaced with English language insults such as "Die, Chinese" and "Chinese Corona". Dutch police investigated the incident, but no suspects have been identified [251]. On 10 February 2020, a 65-year-old Dutch man of Chinese descent was kicked off his bicycle in Amsterdam by two young men on a scooter. One of the culprits filmed the incident and uploaded it to his Snapchat story. He later downplayed criticism saying "don't you worry guys, it was a Chinese man" and turned himself in to police only after becoming the target of widespread Internet vigilantism [253]. On a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Seoul on 11 February 2020, flight attendants put up a sign in Korean discouraging passengers from using a restroom on the plane allegedly reserved for the flight crew, apparently out of fear of the coronavirus. A spokesman for the airline has since issued an apology, stating "we are deeply sorry that this was viewed as discrimination, which was absolutely not the intention of the crew" and that it is not company policy to reserve specific lavatories for flight crew [255]. Many Koreans and Dutch people of Korean descent have reported a spate of anti-Korean incidents, from vandalism of their homes to violent assaults and harassment, and more than 150 Korean expat respondents in an online survey indicated they had experienced a xenophobic incident [256]. On the evening of 22 February 2020, a 24-year-old Dutch student of Chinese descent was assaulted by a group of students in her dormitory in Tilburg, suffering a concussion and knife wounds, after she asked them to stop singing Gaarthuis' Carnaval song. In late February 2020, the Japanese School of Amsterdam cautioned parents not to bring their children to playgrounds and other places frequented by local children, amidst a spate of violent bullying incidents targeting Japanese children. On 16 March 2020, a residence in Diemen was smeared with words reading "Kankerchinees corona" ("cancerous Chinese corona" in English), which was publicly denounced by Mayor Erik Boog. On 21 June 2020, a teenager of Korean descent fell victim to a group assault in a Zaandam park. The teen was kicked in the head, blamed for the coronavirus, and one of his assailants attempted to steal a mobile phone. On 4 July, a 16-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of attempted manslaughter [260] [261]. Police interrogated a 13-year-old boy who filmed the incident and the Public Prosecution Service did not rule out further arrests [262]. ## Poland In May 2020, the Polish-based "NEVER AGAIN" Association published its report titled "The Virus of Hate: The Brown Book of Epidemic". It documented acts of racism, xenophobia and discrimination that occurred in the wake of coronavirus in Poland. The 40 pages long report recorded numerous attacks on the representatives of minorities on the background of accusations of spreading the virus, as well as cases of spreading hate speech and conspiracy theories about the epidemic by the extreme right. ## Russia In Moscow and Yekaterinburg, Chinese nationals are targeted by quarantine enforcing campaigns, as well as police raids, which were condemned as racial profiling. In Blagoveshchensk, at least one hotel has barred Chinese nationals from booking rooms, and markets operated by people of Chinese origin have seen their sales plummeting. According to an Ipsos MORI poll conducted in February 2020, 37% of Russian respondents would consider avoiding people of Chinese origin, the highest of the eight countries surveyed. On the other hand, an October 2020 poll from the Central European Institute of Asian Studies found that Russian respondents were the least likely to blame China for COVID-19 out of the 13 European countries surveyed [99] [267]. ## Sweden It was reported on 20 May 2020 that a Chinese student and his girlfriend were racially harassed and assaulted in Stockholm due to wearing masks. A man hit the couple in the face and head, which resulted in injuries for both victims, including a concussion for the female victim. Individuals have been bullied, forced to leave public transportation and physically abused [269] [270] [271]. An October 2020 poll from the Central European Institute of Asian Studies had more than half of Swedish respondents agreeing that COVID-19 spread due to Chinese people eating bats and other wild animals, which was a higher percentage than the other 12 European countries surveyed [267]. ## United Kingdom On 12 February 2020, Sky News reported that some British Chinese said they were facing increasing levels of racist abuse. It was recorded that hate crimes against British Chinese people between January and March 2020 have tripled the amount of hate crimes in the past two years in the UK [274]. According to the London Metropolitan Police, between January and June 2020, 457 race-related crimes against British East and Southeast Asians [275]. Verbal abuse has been one of the common forms of racism experienced by British Chinese. Just before the lockdown in February 2020, British Chinese children recalled experiences of fear and frustration due to bullying and name calling in their schools. According to a June 2020 poll, 76% of British Chinese had received racial slurs at least once, and 50% regularly received racial slurs, a significantly higher frequency than experienced by any other racial minority [277]. Anti-Chinese racism has also had effects on Chinese-owned businesses. Many, including the busy Chinese takeaway segment and businesses in Chinatown, London recorded significantly reduced customers in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak compared to usual elevated sales related to Chinese New Year celebrations, due to fears of coronavirus spreading through food or unhygienic working practices. In London, a student of the Royal Holloway University was verbally abused by train passengers at Clapham Junction station, while a similar incident was reported by passengers on the London Underground. On 30 January 2020, a postgraduate student walking alone while wearing a face mask on West Street in Sheffield city centre, towards the University of Sheffield, was verbally abused and nudged by three people [280] [281]. Tottenham Hotspur footballer Dele Alli posted a video on Snapchat where he wore a face mask and appeared to mock an Asian man seated near him in Dubai about the coronavirus outbreak. He later apologised and deleted the video. A 24-year-old Thai tax consultant in London was violently assaulted and robbed by two teenagers yelling "coronavirus" at the man. In Solihull, a woman of Chinese origin was allegedly called "a dirty Chink" and told "Take your fucking coronavirus back home!" A woman of Indian origin who tried to intervene was beaten up and later hospitalised [284]. On 24 February 2020, a Singaporean Chinese student at University College London was beaten up when walking past a group who shouted "I don't want your coronavirus in my country". He suffered fractures on his face and bruises on his eye. Two teenagers have been arrested in relation to the incident [286]. One of the teenagers was sentenced to serve an 18-month youth rehabilitation order on 28 January 2021 [287]. In March 2020, in Exeter, there had been six separate racially-motivated physical assaults against Asian people, including three assaults against Chinese teenagers reported in a 24-hour period. A Vietnamese art curator was dropped as an assistant for an exhibit of contemporary Vietnamese fine art at the Affordable Art Fair. Raquelle Azran, the dealer in charge of the exhibit, explained in an email that she could no longer participate because "Asians are being seen as carriers of the virus" and that the presence of a Vietnamese curator "would unfortunately create hesitation on the part of the audience to enter the exhibition space". An NHS nurse of Asian descent stated she was assaulted and racially abused by a couple at a train station during her commute for a nightshift at a hospital. In February 2021, a University of Southampton lecturer of Chinese descent was beaten by a group of men and had various racist slurs yelled at him [291]. Some right-wing social media users have spread Islamophobic conspiracy theories and fake videos of Muslims flouting social distancing measures and being prone to spreading the virus. ## Romanis Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria have each allegedly taken "disproportionate or militarized measures" against communities of Romani people during the pandemic, targeting their towns and villages as part of a racially charged narrative that the Romani are unclean and diseased. Media organizations in these nations have also sometimes taken discriminatory stances, with one Romanian media outlet claiming that Romani people were disease reservoirs, having genetic resistance to COVID-19 themselves, yet able to pass it on to others. Meanwhile, in Hungary, Romani leaders have claimed that they have been left out of the nation's aggressive COVID-19 immunization drive and thus were forced to organize their own community initiatives to spur lagging vaccination rates [294]. # North America ## Canada A national report, funded by the Government of Canada and conducted as a collaboration with the Chinese Canadian National Council – Toronto Chapter, Project 107, Vancouver Asian Film Festival and the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, revealed there were 600 documented anti-Asian incidents reported in the country since the start of the pandemic. It revealed that East Asians suffered the most attacks at 83%, followed by Southeast Asians at 7%, South Asians at 2%, mixed-race or biracial Canadians at 1.5% and Indigenous Canadians at 1% [296]. On 26 January 2020, Peter Akman, a reporter who was with CTV News, tweeted an image of his Asian barber in a mask and said, "Hopefully all I got today was a haircut." He was fired after the tweet was reported [297]. On 29 January 2020, Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada and head of the Public Health Agency of Canada, expressed her concern. Tam, who is originally from Hong Kong, tweeted that "I am concerned about the growing number of reports of racism and stigmatizing comments on social media directed to people of Chinese and Asian descent related to 2019-nCoV coronavirus." [299]. The Nation reported on 7 February 2020 that some people of Hong Kong and other Asian diaspora in Canada had been spreading xenophobic stories and rhetoric online against mainland Chinese people. Several incidents of violent assaults against women of Asian descent have been reported. According to an Angus Reid Institute/University of Alberta survey on 22 June 2020, 64% of Chinese-Canadian respondents reported some level of disrespect during COVID-19, 50% of them had experienced verbal abuse, and 29% had experienced physical attacks [302]. 64% of respondents also felt coverage from North American news outlets had led to negative views of ethnically Chinese people in Canada. In Vancouver, anti-Asian hate crimes grew 717% between 2019 and 2020. ### Alberta In Calgary a man was arrested for spitting on an Asian woman on a longboard at a park and calling her a "stupid chink". The man also spit on a white couple behind the Asian woman. Also in Calgary, a man was charged with hate crimes for verbally attacking a Chinese-Canadian man with racial slurs. On 23 December 2021, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney likened the origins of COVID-19 to a "bat soup thing out of Wuhan". Following subsequent criticism for his remarks, Kenney supposedly apologized, allegedly stating "...if anybody did take offence, that I apologize to them, if they took offence, certainly none was intended" [308]. ### British Columbia Chinese-Canadian businesses in Vancouver have reported a drop in business from fifty to seventy percent. On 13 March 2020, a white man in his 50s yelled racist remarks about COVID-19 towards a 92-year-old Asian man with dementia at a convenience store in Vancouver. The suspect also assaulted the elderly man, which caused the victim to fall and hit his head on the ground. Vancouver's Chinese Cultural Centre was a target of vandalism, particularly graffiti calling for the death of Chinese people. On 1 November 2020, a man was filmed threatening a Filipino man on a bus in Vancouver. The man referred to the Filipino man as a "Chinese spy" and threatened to sexually assault his daughter. According to the Vancouver Police Department the number of anti-Asian hate crimes reported in the months March and April 2020 exceeded the total in 2019. During the first nine months of 2020, the number of anti-Asian hate crimes saw an 878% increase compared to the same period in 2019, from nine to eighty-eight [301]. A survey of 1,600 adults conducted by ResearchCo and obtained by the Agence France-Presse revealed one in four Canadians of Asian descent (70% of whom were of Chinese descent) who lived in British Columbia knew someone within their household who had faced discrimination. The survey also revealed 24 percent of Canadians of South Asian descent reported racist insults [315]. Canadians of Indigenous origin had also reported discrimination [315]. On 1 May 2021 at 3 pm at Burger King in Ironwood Plaza in Richmond, a man standing next to a Chinese family shouted "China virus! Because of you the world is like this! Go back to your country!" which caused a bystander to shout "Get the f*** out", to which the attacker responded with further racist abuse. ### Ontario In the Greater Toronto Area, Chinese restaurants have reported a drop in sales of thirty to eighty percent. On 28 January 2020, nine thousand parents of a school district in the York Region, just north of Toronto signed a petition calling on the York Region District School Board to keep students whose family have visited China home from school for seventeen days, and that schools keep track of these students' travels and inform other parents so they could decide whether to pull their kids out of class. The York Region School Board rejected the petition, saying it could potentially stoke racism. In April 2020, Dipanjan Basu, a University of Waterloo engineering professor posted anti-Chinese messages on his personal Facebook account, for which he later apologized. In Markham, Ontario, police arrested an individual and charged an individual implicated in six assaults against Asian women. In another incident in Scarborough, a man was assaulted while ordering food. Anti-Asian statements were uttered by the attacker. Police are investigating this as a hate-motivated assault. ### Quebec In Montreal, vandals targeted Vietnamese Buddhist temples by smashing statues and religious artifacts. On 17 March 2020, two Korean men were stabbed in Montreal, prompting the Korean Consulate to issue a warning to those of Korean heritage in the city to be cautious and report any incidents to the consulate. In April 2020, there have been reports of Inuit being harassed and mistaken as Asians in Montreal. They were spat on and told to "go back to China" or "home country". The SVPM noted a spike in the number of hate crimes and incidents against the Asian community in Montreal in 2020. ### Hutterites In late-June 2020, a large number of cases involving Hutterites – a communal, self-sufficient ethnoreligious group with a large population in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, began to emerge. While many colonies cooperated with provincial health officials to control these outbreaks, some displayed resistance – which led to the group as a whole becoming stigmatized by the general population and facing discrimination. After facing the threat of a human rights complaint by a community member, Manitoba announced that it would no longer link COVID-19 cases to Hutterite colonies unless there is risk to the general public [329]. For similar reasons, the Hutterian Safety Council (HSC) criticized Saskatchewan for linking outbreaks to Hutterite colonies where there is no risk to the public – even after it began to use the euphemism "communal living setting" to identify them – considering it a form of "cultural profiling" as no other group had been singled out in this manner [328]. The province's medical officer Saqib Shahab said it was "very important to recognize there will be different settings for transmission", and that the public needed to be aware of where new cases were located. ## United States According to a June 2020 Pew Research study 58% of Asian Americans and 45% of African Americans believe that racist views toward them had increased since the pandemic. A study by the New York University College of Arts & Science found that there was no overall increase of Anti-Asian sentiment among the American population, instead it suggested that "already prejudiced persons" had felt authorized by the pandemic to act openly on their prejudices [332]. Early calls for blaming China for the pandemic outbreak included derogatory use of the phrases "Chinese flu", "China flu", or "Wuhan flu", phrases embraced and widely used by then-President Donald Trump and his supporters. There were several thousand incidences of xenophobia and racism against Asian Americans between 28 January and 24 February 2020, according to a tally compiled by Russell Jeung, professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University [334]. An online reporting forum called "Stop AAPI Hate" recorded "650 direct reports of discrimination against primarily Asian Americans" between 18 and 26 March 2020, this later increased to 1,497 reports by 15 April 2020, and most targets were of Chinese (40%) and Korean (16%) descent [335] [335]. By 28 February 2021, it had risen to 3,795 [336]. According to a report by Philadelphia radio station WHYY-FM (21 April 2020), incidents of anti-Asian racism in Philadelphia during the pandemic, including discrimination, racial slurs and a violent attack, especially targeted Chinese Americans, and went mostly unreported to the authorities [337]. The article detailed a number of incidents which were caused both by white Americans and African Americans. Media critique organisation FAIR has documented instances of anti-Asian racism on the street, and reports that many media outlets such as CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and Fox News capitalise on Sinophobia and "Orientalist tropes that the Chinese are inherently sneaky and untrustworthy, and are ruled by an incompetent, authoritarian government that is the 'sick man of Asia'". An article on The Conversation has also noted anti-Chinese sentiments from similar media outlets on their coverage of Chinese wet markets [339]. The University of California, Berkeley's University Health Services posted an infographic on common reactions to the novel coronavirus epidemic that said "Xenophobia: fears about interacting with those who might be from Asia and guilt about these feelings" is normal. The university was criticized for "normalizing racism". Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang spoke of an uptick in anti-Asian racism surrounding the coronavirus. In February 2021, Asian American basketball player Jeremy Lin said he had been called "coronavirus" on the court [342]. Several lawmakers, including members of Congress, denounced xenophobia related to the coronavirus in a press conference. They said Asian American businesses across the country from grocery stores to nail salons and restaurants had been forced into financial crises due to a reduction in customers. Additionally, Asian American businesses have reported coronavirus-related harassment and acts of vandalism [344]. President Trump frequently referred to SARS-CoV-2 as the "Chinese Virus", "China Virus" and "Kung Flu" (from Kung Fu, Chinese martial arts) in an attempt to point to its origin, a term considered by some to be anti-Chinese and racist. He later argued this was "not racist at all" after lawmakers including Elizabeth Warren raised objections about the statement [347] [348]. Trump also tweeted, on 23 March 2020, that the coronavirus was not Asian Americans' fault and their communities should be protected [349]. CNN commentators Chris Cuomo and Jim Acosta also criticized the use of the term "Wuhan Virus" and "Chinese Virus", although other CNN anchors had used those terms in the past [350] [351] [352]. Trump also brushed off the alleged use of the derogatory term "Kung Flu" by a White House official to refer to COVID-19 when asked by a reporter during a media session on 18 March 2020 [353] [354]. Eventually he pulled back on the "Chinese Virus" name due to Asian communities facing increased number of racist taunts and incidents as the illness spread across the U.S [355] [356]. However, at his Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally on 20 June, Trump referred to the virus as "Kung Flu" [357]. Then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referred to the virus as the "Wuhan Virus" and said that there was "a significant amount of evidence" it emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and blamed the Chinese Communist Party for posing "a substantial threat to our health and way of life." [359] [360] [361]. In response to the growing anti-Chinese sentiment, several media outlets and individuals began suggesting that it was not useful to blame Chinese people for the pandemic, and that there was a distinction between the people of China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), accused by some of covering up and mishandling the pandemic. A petition to use the name 'CCP virus' was launched with the White House on 20 March 2020. [362] [363]. On 23 March 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) New York City office issued an alert reporting that extremists were encouraging one another to intentionally spread the coronavirus to police officers and members of the Jewish community, if they contracted it. That same day, the FBI foiled a terrorist plot by a white supremacist to use a car bomb to blow up a Missouri hospital overflowing with COVID-19 patients, with the man having referenced far-right conspiracy theories that the virus was "engineered by Jews" online before he was shot and killed in an altercation with FBI agents [364] [365]. The next day, the Department of Homeland Security released a memo to law enforcement officials warning of the possibility of violent extremists taking advantage of the pandemic to commit terrorist attacks [366] [367]. The memo cites calls by far-right extremists to commit attacks on Asian Americans and other targets, as well as spread the virus in diverse neighborhoods and places of worship. On 28 March, the FBI warned again that white supremacist groups were plotting to "expose Jewish people to coronavirus" by having members use themselves as bio-weapons" to infect areas Jewish people are deemed likely to visit [364] [368] [369]. The Anti-Defamation League and Life After Hate observed that in addition to the wave of anti-Asian xenophobia online, there was a white nationalist and white supremacist -fueled wave of antisemitic and anti-Zionism, including but not limited to claims that Jews and/or Israelis were spreading the virus, but also an online campaign to infect Jews with the virus as a means of murder [371] [372] [371] [373]. The ADL was especially concerned with the prevalence of antisemitic messaging on Steam, Discord and TikTok combined with the increased internet usage by children after school closings [371]. Restaurants in Chinatown in Boston have also lost customers due to fears of coronavirus. The government of New York City cited a report which estimated a forty percent sales drop for Chinese businesses in Flushing, Queens, while other reports suggested the drop ranged from thirty to eighty percent [374]. It has been reported that the number of restaurants in Chinatown in New York, that remained open decreased from 270 to 40 [375] [376]. According to a March 2020 article in The Korea Times, Asians in the U.S. were being attacked both for wearing face-masks and for not wearing them, creating a dilemma for some Koreans as to which was safer, a choice made even more difficult by conflicting mask guidance from the CDC. At a White House press conference on 10 April 2020, Surgeon General Jerome Adams claimed that people of color were "socially predisposed" to coronavirus exposure. He was also criticized for calling on minority communities to abstain from drugs and alcohol with condescending language: "Do it for your abuela [379]. Do it for your granddaddy, do it for your Big Mama, do it for your pop-pop." Others questioned the validity of the criticism, including Columbia professor John McWhorter, who challenged the ideology demanding that root-cause arguments always be included in statements addressing black Americans, and compared outrage at the Surgeon General's statement to that directed at Barack Obama when he admonished absentee black fathers [380]. Testifying before a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on 23 June 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he believes institutional racism is a contributing factor to the disproportionate effect that the virus has had on African American and other minority communities. On 17 September 2020, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution 243–164 condemning racism tied to the pandemic against Asian Americans. On 14 April 2021, the US Senate voted 92–6 to advance the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which would allow the US Justice Department to review hate crimes related to COVID-19 and establish an online database [383]. On 22 April 2021, the Senate voted 94–1 to pass the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act with bipartisan changes [384] [385]. It then passed the House of Representatives by a 364–62 vote on 18 May and was signed into law by Biden on 20 May [386] [387]. U.S. Olympians Sakura Kokumai and Yul Moldauer said they had been targets of hate crimes as of early 2021. On 28 December 2022, following the abrupt end of China's Zero-COVID policy and subsequent surge of cases, the U.S. instituted a pre-departure testing requirement for all air passengers arriving from China. Since the U.S [390]. had previously abandoned testing of all other foreign arrivals, it was feared that Asians may again become scapegoated in the midst of a pre-existing wintertime surge of cases in the United States. ### Arizona A man in Page was arrested in April and accused of inciting terrorism. The man is accused of making a social media post that calls for the killing of Navajo people due to COVID-19. The Navajo Nation has been dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak. In March, Scottsdale city council member Guy Phillips made a private Facebook post claiming COVID stands for "Chinese Originated Viral Infectious Disease", prompting criticism and allegations of racism. Phillips later issued an apology in a letter to the Arizona Republic [393]. Asian American students at Arizona State University have also reported incidents of racism and xenophobia. ### Arkansas On 13 March 2021, a Bentonville Fire Department captain confronted a Vietnamese American man outside Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs, asked him if he knew this was America, made threats, and fought. A security guard separated them but the fire captain ran back to the man, threatened to kill "you and your kind of people", grabbed him by his shirt, pushed him backwards, and punched him. Garland County charged him with public intoxication and third-degree assault. Arkansas has no hate crime statute. ### California On 13 February 2020, Los Angeles County authorities spoke out against a number of bullying incidents and assaults against the Asian American community, including a middle-schooler being beaten and hospitalized. On 14 February 2020, bullies physically attacked an Asian American boy, 16, in San Fernando Valley and accused him of having the coronavirus only because he is Asian American. Robin Toma of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission stated, "Many may be quick to assume that just because someone is Asian or from China that somehow they are more likely to be carriers of the virus [400]. We need to speak out against this when we see it. We need to speak up, not be bystanders, be upstanders." Other forms of harassment in Los Angeles included fake World Health Organization flyers advising people to avoid Asian American restaurants [400]. Chinatowns across the state have seen a significant drop in business since the beginning of the pandemic, in particular around the San Francisco Bay Area. In November 2021, Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee was pepper-sprayed while several people shouted racial slurs at her and a group of other Asian-Americans. ### Colorado In July 2020, a group of Colorado State University students set up an Instagram account and listings for a fake Chinese restaurant in Fort Collins called "Ching Chong House" with a description playing into various anti-Chinese stereotypes, including a menu with items such as "mouse tail salad" and "marinated ostrich foreheads" that appears to specifically reference the COVID-19 pandemic allegedly originating in a wet market in Wuhan. ### Connecticut On 3 April 2020, a Chinese restaurant in Seymour received racist phone calls blaming the COVID-19 pandemic on people of Chinese descent and threatening to shoot the owners. In Stamford, an Asian American woman claimed a cashier sprayed her with Lysol at a supermarket. A man was arrested for yelling "Go back to China" at a man wearing a mask in Milford. The man then allegedly pointed his vehicle at the other man. ### Delaware In June 2020, flyers described as "racist and xenophobic" by the University of Delaware were found on vehicles and apartments doors of Asian American students. ### Florida In mid-March 2020, in Miami Beach, Florida, a rapper named 1KJohnny posted an Instagram video of himself bullying an elderly Asian woman by chasing her with hand sanitizer while shouting, "Sanitize your ass!" [410] [411]. ### Georgia In April 2020, "Wuhan plague" stickers depicting Winnie the Pooh eating a bat were posted on several businesses in Atlanta. On 16 March 2021, a series of mass shootings occurred at three massage parlors in the metropolitan area of Atlanta. Eight people were killed, six of whom were women of Asian descent, and one person was wounded. The South Korean Foreign Affairs Ministry reported that four of the dead were of Korean ethnicity. According to The Chosun Ilbo, an eyewitness said the shooter said he would "kill all Asians", and some lawmakers and commentators argued that the shootings constituted a hate crime [413] [414]. Various public officials have condemned the shootings and expressed their condolences with the Asian American community, including the president, vice president, several lawmakers, and South Korea's foreign minister [415] [416] [413]. ### Illinois A 60-year-old Chinese American man was attacked by two women while jogging in Naperville, Illinois. According to his daughter, they allegedly threw a log at him, accused him of having the virus, spat at him, and told him to "go back to China." [420] [421]. ### Indiana Two Hmong men were rejected from two hotels in Indiana because hotel staff thought they might have the virus. A Korean American doctor born in Louisville, Kentucky, was kicked out of a Marathon Petroleum gas station in Martinsville. The clerk told him he was not allowed to buy anything or use the bathroom, and to never come back. On 27 February 2021, Ardahbek Amantur, 29, told his passengers while at College Mall in Bloomington that only four people could legally ride in his car and canceled the Uber ride request. A man in the passenger seat refused to leave his car and asked him repeatedly, "Do you eat bats?", got out of the car, tried to tackle him, knocked the victim to the concrete, took Amantur's glasses, which had fallen to the ground, and purposefully smashed them. On 3 March, Jason Nguyen, a sophomore at Indiana University from Fishers, was at IU's Willkie Campus Store when store workers were debating whether they would vote for one of the workers if he ran for president. Nguyen said, "I'd vote for you" and a worker said, "Oh no, no, no you wouldn't vote for him, because people of your kind ..." then caught himself. On 11 January 2023, an 18-year-old IU student was stabbed multiple times in a Bloomington Transit bus by a 56-year-old woman, who admitted to attacking Asian Americans intentionally, stating "It would be one less person to blow up our country." [425]. ### Kansas On 19 March 2020, in Overland Park, Kansas, an Asian American worker was told to move six feet away from her white co-workers at Taben Group. She was the only person in the office asked to distance herself from others due to safety concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. When the woman filed a complaint of discriminatory treatment, she was fired from the Taben Group. On 19 March 2021, in Russell, an out-of-state bar patron shouted, "I'm going to kick his ass" and aggressively confronted State Representative Rui Xu, questioning the use of a face mask and asking if he had COVID-19 while accompanied by the owner of the business. ### Louisiana A police officer in Kaplan, Louisiana, was fired for allegedly making comments on social media about it being "unfortunate" that more black people do not die from COVID-19. CNN reporter Amara Walker, a Korean American, described three racist incidents that happened to her at the New Orleans International Airport. According to Walker, a man at the airport said "Ni hao, ching chong" to her. She says that when she was at the terminal, a different man asked her if she spoke English and mocked Asian languages. When an airport officer came to the terminal, Walker says that the officer stated that asking someone if they speak English is not racist. ### Maine A homeless man in Portland was arrested in March 2021 for harassing an Asian woman and her daughter and damaging the woman's car. Police say they are investigating the incident as a hate crime. ### Maryland In Howard County, six restaurants, four of which were Asian-owned, were burglarized on Lunar New Year 2021. In May 2021 in Baltimore, two women who were closing shop were reportedly assaulted by a 50-year-old man with a cinder block. The women were elderly, in their late sixties. One got 25 stitches to her head. The man faces assault charges, but hate crime charges were not yet filed. ### Massachusetts After a Chinese American anesthesiology resident left work from Massachusetts General Hospital, a man followed her and yelled profanities and racial verbal abuse, saying, "Why are you Chinese people killing everyone?" and "What is wrong with you? Why the fuck are you killing us?" Another anesthesiology resident who is of Chinese and Filipino descent was yelled at by a man on the subway, "Fuck China! Fuck the Chinese!". An internal medicine resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston said a frustrated patient at another hospital repeatedly told her to "go back to your country." [434]. ### Michigan In Lansing, a child at the Reopen Michigan protest danced in blackface resembling former President Barack Obama on the steps of the Michigan State Capitol building. ### Minnesota In Woodbury in March 2020, a threatening racist note was left on the home of an Asian American couple with statements such as "we're watching you" and "take the Chinese virus back to China". In Moorhead in April 2020, a man was arrested for coughing on two grocery store employees while blaming racial minorities for COVID-19. In September 2020, the words "China virus" were burned onto the front yard of an Austin man of Chinese heritage. ### Missouri In Eureka, Missouri, a restaurant displayed a racist coronavirus-shaped piñata, which featured an Asian caricature wearing a conical hat and Fu Manchu mustache. These piñatas circulated in parts of Mexico and the U.S [440]. in March 2020. ### Nebraska Leirion Gaylor Baird, the Mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska, said there are racial and ethnic disparities in the city. There has been also an increase of hateful and racist incidents toward Asian Americans [442]. This also includes outright racist acts, very aggressive behavior, a lot of staring and remarks to neighbors about staying away from people. One staff member of the Asian Community and Cultural center of Lincoln recalled that a random person came up to sneeze in her face and went away to laugh with their family. ### New Jersey On 26 March 2020, Governor Phil Murphy acknowledged reports of bias incidents against Jewish Americans and Korean Americans in Bergen County, which experienced the worst outbreak in New Jersey. On 4 April 2020, a group of teens in Edison, New Jersey, surrounded a 55-year-old Asian woman and yelled racial slurs about the coronavirus. One of the teenage girls then punched the woman in the back of the head. In August 2020, a man pleaded guilty to threatening Jews during the pandemic. ### New Mexico Racist incidents have occurred in New Mexico. In March 2020, an international student at the University of New Mexico was targeted with a racist prank outside his dormitory room covered in plastic with the sign "CAUTION – KEEP OUT – QUARANTINE". An Asian American advocacy group was also harassed and was told to "go back where you came from." Vandals spray-painted "Trucha with the coronavirus" at the Asian Noodle Bar restaurant in Albuquerque [449]. It was reported on April that a Vietnamese community member was attacked at Costco in Albuquerque [450]. An Asian American woman said people harass and use racial slurs at her whenever she goes out and claimed another woman even tried to run her over with a car. She said, "I've been told I don't belong here, I've been told I should go back to China and die there and leave Americans alone." [451]. On 29 April 2021, a Florida resident walked into a massage therapy establishment without a mask on in violation of both state and business requirements, yelled racial slurs at the Asian American female employee, refused to wear a mask when ask by staff to put on a mask, assaulted her while calling her the "Chinese virus" and used other racial slurs, and continued until police arrived. Police charged the attacker with misdemeanor counts of aggravated battery and leaving painful temporary disfigurement while investigating felony crime and hate crime charges. ### New York Overall during 2020, the NYPD arrested 20 suspects for committing anti-Asian hate crimes. Of the perpetrators, 55% were non-Hispanic Black, 35% were Hispanic and 10% were non-Hispanic White. 60% of the accused were male and 40% were female. The overall number of anti-Asian hate crimes registered with police had risen from three in 2019 to 28 in 2020 [454] [455] [456]. There were 129 reported hate crimes against Asian-Americans in 2021 as of 5 December, up 361% from 28 in 2020, and more than a fortyfold increase since 2019 [457]. In March 2020, as New York became a global hotspot, prejudicial sentiment against New Yorkers began to be reported as several states put into place regulations banning, blocking or imposing quarantines on them. New York state governor Andrew Cuomo proclaimed "We will not let New Yorkers be discriminated against" as he reprimanded Rhode Island for initiating xenophobic procedures targeting New Yorkers [459] [460] [461]. In February 2022 a South Korean diplomat was physically attacked, prompting city councilman Keith Powers to issue a statement on the increase in hate crimes against the AAPI over the past year. ### North Carolina A poster for a Chinese American real estate agent was vandalized with racial slurs near Pineville, North Carolina. The real estate agent believes she was targeted because of the coronavirus. ### Ohio It was reported in February that there was suspicion and mistreatment of Asian Americans and specifically Chinese Americans in Northeast Ohio. There has been a decrease of customers of Chinese owned and/or operated businesses. In April 2020, a Thai American woman was yelled at with racist insults from a driver in a red pickup truck as they both drove through Lakewood, Ohio [465]. The driver also said, "You're a virus and get out of America. And that's an order." Another woman reported that two young men on bikes spit on her and told her to go home and chanted "Corona, corona" in downtown Columbus. ### Oklahoma On 20 June 2020, in a speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma, former President of the United States Donald Trump used language widely considered racist when he referred to COVID-19 as "Kung Flu", a phrase Senior Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway had previously described as "wrong", "highly offensive" and "very hurtful" [467] [468] [469]. On 22 June 2020, the White House defended Trump's use of the term [470]. ### Oregon In Portland, a man was arrested after allegedly kicking an Asian woman who was with her son on a bus on 22 January 2021. Prosecutors say the man yelled racial slurs related to the coronavirus during the attack. A bar in Medford drew backlash after the electronic billboard displayed the words "CHINA VIRUS HOURS". In response, the bar was review bombed on Yelp, leading the site to disable reviews for it. Vandalism targeting a Portland district of Asian-owned businesses has been suggested as being related to racism related to COVID-19. A college student in Salem was assaulted by two men while walking to a store. Police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. ### Pennsylvania In a Philadelphia SEPTA subway station in March 2020, an Asian couple was surrounded by a group and attacked. Harassment and attacks on Asians have included a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer who was verbally harassed several times during the same month [475]. In August 2020, a woman shouted expletives at a nine-month-pregnant Jing Chen, 38, and her daughter, 12; sprayed water on her; then punched her in the face in Philadelphia at 13th Street and Walnut Street [477]. On 3 September 2020, Philadelphia's Chinese business community organized two meetings of a panel of Asian-American community leaders and organizers to emphasize how enforcing hate crime laws and constitutional rights education reduces hate crimes against Asian Americans. The Lower Moreland High School received criticism from students and parents after racist texts surfaced among several of its students. Among the messages was one calling for Asians to be stoned and lynched. In February 2021, a restaurant in Philadelphia received complaints after naming a macaroni and cheese dish "COVID Mac". The dish in question was made with Chinese chili. On 4 April 2021, at 2:00 pm a homeless man approached two women and struck one, age 27, unprovoked in Philadelphia at 11th Street and Filbert Street. On 6 April 2021, at 7:40 pm a man shouted, "You gave me coronavirus" at an Asian American man, 64, repeatedly bumped him then assaulted him in Philadelphia on North 10th Street. The Philadelphia District Attorney charged the man with ethnic intimidation, terroristic threats, assault, and other related charges. On 15 April 2021, Philadelphia City Council passed a resolution to have the School District of Philadelphia teach Asian American history during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (May) to help combat anti-Asian hate. ### South Carolina While a Taiwanese American CNN reporter, Natasha Chen, was working on a Memorial Day weekend story in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a man racially harassed the reporter about her mask, told her to "get out of his country" with an expletive and that she was responsible for the pandemic. ### Texas At a Sam's Club in Midland, Jose Gomez, 19, stabbed two adults and two children, including a Sam's Club employee who attempted to stop the attack [490]. The targeted victims were identified as an Asian family, specifically a Burmese father with a two-year-old and six-year-old [491] [492]. The FBI lists the case as a hate crime as the suspected indicated he stabbed the Asian family because he thought they were Chinese spreading the coronavirus. An Austin Police Department officer was suspended for text messages, which according to a disciplinary memo, suggested that the recipients, who were former APD officers, would get COVID-19 from a homeless Asian man. One recipient responded with several racial slurs against Asians. On April Fools' Day 2020, two students from Angelo State University, Michael Luna and Shane Stumpf, placed several coronavirus warning posters on an international Korean student's dormitory door as a racist prank. When confronted, they fought and then Stumpf pulled out his gun on the Korean student. According to a reporter for the Korean newspaper Joins.com, Stumpf runs a country music YouTube channel where he plays in front of a background with the Confederate battle flag. Chinatown in Houston faced a drop in customers after people falsely and maliciously spread rumors online of an outbreak of the coronavirus. On 14 March 2021, a ramen restaurant in San Antonio was covered in racist graffiti after its owner spoke out against Governor Abbot's lifting of the state mask mandate. ### Utah In March 2021, several Asian Americans in Salt Lake County received threatening messages. One restaurant was sent a letter blaming Asians for the pandemic. ### Washington In Seattle and elsewhere in Washington State, a rise in anti-Asian racism has been blamed on coronavirus. On 26 March 2020, windows were shattered at Jade Garden restaurant in Seattle's Chinatown–International District. Total damages were estimated to be around $1,500. The business was already down 80% at beginning of March, which forced the owner to temporarily lay off 33 employees. With this addition of damages, the owner said they did not have enough money for the repairs. The owner said that the damages "weren't just a simple rock being thrown, but a deliberate attack where 'someone took the time in the middle of the night to smash the windows in hard, very forcefully, five times.'" In late March in Yakima, Minado Buffet had broken windows and the building was spray-painted with hate speech saying, "Take the corona back you chink." Damages would cost $1,000 according to restaurant's owner [501]. On 16 May, a man attacked and spat on an Asian couple in downtown Seattle, blaming them for the coronavirus pandemic. In February 2021 in Renton, a woman was recorded calling an Asian man a chink and throwing a snowball at him. On 3 April 2021, a 15-year-old was arrested in Tacoma after a video surfaced of the juvenile attacking an Asian couple. The attack took place on 19 November 2020. On 26 April 2021, a Caucasian man, 25, encountered two Asian American men in Bothell (the attacker and the other men were previously unknown to each other), and unprovokedly gave the middle finger to them as they exited their apartment, lunged with a hunting knife, stabbed the victim, also 25, in the heart, and lunged for the other victim who escaped. He was arrested that hour, while the first victim later died. ### Wisconsin On 24 March 2020, a student from the University of Wisconsin saw chalk graffiti across the street from the campus saying, "It's from China #chinesevirus". The university later released a statement acknowledging that racism had increased towards students of East Asian and South Asian descent [501]. On 12 May 2020, a 57-year-old white man was arrested at a grocery store in Stevens Point for harassing, with racial slurs, Hmong shoppers wearing masks. # Oceania ## Australia On 26 January 2020, two Murdoch News Corp tabloids ran controversial headlines, the Melbourne Herald Sun's headline read, "Chinese virus pandamonium", a misspelling of "pandemonium" and alluding to China's native pandas, while Sydney's The Daily Telegraph headline read "China kids stay home". One of the outcomes of these headlines was a petition of over 51,000 signatures in 24 hours demanding an apology and stating that these tabloids were not representative of Australians. In response, the Sydney Morning Herald ran a counter-piece titled "This virus is not 'Chinese' – don't racialise it because we all have to be prepared" [57] [508]. Several isolated incidents of xenophobia and racism related to the COVID-19 pandemic were also reported in the media. On 28 January 2020, a man collapsed and died of a suspected cardiac arrest outside of a restaurant in Sydney's Chinatown. Unconfirmed viral videos circulating on social media suggest that bystanders refused to perform CPR out of fear of the coronavirus. In February, it was reported a supermarket employee refused entry to customers of Asian appearance, claiming it was to prevent the spread of the coronavirus [510]. A witness made a complaint that was upheld by Woolworths who confirmed that the employee had been in the wrong, apologised, and said they were conducting a full investigation into the incident. Ravenswood School for Girls, a private school on Sydney's North Shore reportedly asked a South Korean student to leave her dormitory – even though she had not been to China since visiting Shanghai in October 2019 [511] [512]. Similarly, a Chinese-Malaysian student in Perth found herself evicted from her shared home upon returning to Australia after visiting her home country for Lunar New Year [513]. One news agency reported in February 2020 that Chinese restaurants and establishments in Sydney and Melbourne have seen a dramatic drop in business, with trade declining by more than seventy percent. According to an online Ipsos MORI poll conducted in February 2020, 23% of Australian respondents would consider in the future avoiding people of Chinese origin to protect themselves from coronavirus [515]. During the early months of the pandemic there was an increased number of isolated reports where members of the Chinese-Australian and Asian-Australian communities were subjected to verbal vitriol and racist slurs. On 20 March 2020, a student wearing a mask in Hobart, Tasmania was told, "you've got the virus" and "go back to your country" before being punched leaving him with a bruised eye and broken glasses [516] [517]. The reason for the attack was partly attributed to the cultural differences in wearing masks in Eastern and Western cultures, however the attacker was already known to police and was jailed after pleading guilty to common assault. In October 2020, a Chinese restaurant in Victoria reportedly received a letter telling the owners to "go back to Wuhan" and calling Chinese people "bloody bird and animal shit eating". 84.5% of Asian-Australians experienced at least one instance of discrimination between January and October 2020, according to a survey [519]. In March 2021, it was reported that a pregnant Asian-Australian couple, while waiting for a pregnancy scan in south Perth, was at the receiving end of racial slurs and abuse. A woman allegedly told the couple to "piss off back to China" as well as other slurs. The Asian-Australian man responded by saying, "Don't tell me to get out of my own country ... You just told me to get out of my own country, go back to where I come from ... I was born here, mate." The incident was recorded on camera and posted online. The couple said they were "heartened" by the supportive responses they received after the video was posted and had over 250,000 views. The COVID-19 Racism Incident Report Survey 2021, conducted by the Asian Australian Alliance revealed that 52% of those who had faced COVID-19-related racism were of Chinese descent, followed by Vietnamese (8%), Malaysian (8%), Korean (7%), Singaporean (3%), Filipino (3%) and Indian (2%) descent. The survey noted that COVID-19-related racism had affected those of East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian descent and other migrant backgrounds with blame being pushed on different communities as times goes on. ## Fiji On 5 February 2020, Fiji's state-owned broadcaster Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) reported that a local Chinese resident had been berated publicly at a bus station by a man claiming that the victim had COVID-19. An opposition Fijian member of parliament Mitieli Bulanauca mentioned that COVID-19 has been spread by evil forces to assist China and they were responsible for the crisis, which is being assisted by satanic forces. Bulanauca also claimed that the World Health Organization (WHO) had sided with China over the poor handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Chinese Embassy in Fiji condemned claims made by Bulanauca saying that it is shocked and disappointed as his remarks are not factual and were taken from fake social media pages. ## New Zealand MP Raymond Huo said there were racial abuse incidents in the country's Chinese community. An online petition to prevent people from China from entering the country was signed by more than 18,000 people. In Canterbury, an email was sent to a Chinese-origin student's parent, which reportedly said, "our Kiwi kids don't want to be in the same class with your disgusting virus spreaders." [525] [526]. Mayor of Auckland Phil Goff said he was "sickened" by the reports of Asian-origin people being racially targeted at swimming pools, public transport and restaurants. There were reports of incidents of violent assaults against New Zealanders of Korean descent. In February 2021, the Chinese consulate in Auckland was affected by a phony bomb threat made on an events website Aucklife that was hacked. The motive was reportedly a punitive response against China for allegedly causing the pandemic. Indigenous Māori reported high levels of discrimination throughout the pandemic, potentially due to "iwi checkpoints" in which tribal authorities set up COVID-19 safety checkpoints to discourage non-essential travelers from visiting predominantly Māori lands. Following a Delta variant community outbreak in mid–August 2021, several congregants of the predominantly Samoan "Samoan Assemblies of God Mangere" church received racist abuse after their church was linked to 58 cases in the outbreak. Auckland councillor Efeso Collins claimed there was a racist double standard towards the Pasifika community. Many [who?] pointed to the irony that Pasifika people have extremely high vaccination rates, but were portrayed as "virus-spreaders". The Ministry of Health condemned racism against the Pasifika community [532] [533]. # South America ## Argentina On 26 February 2020, an incident involving a fight was reported in La Plata between a Chinese supermarket owner and an Argentine delivery man. The fight was triggered because the delivery man said "¿Qué hacés, coronavirus?" ("What's up, coronavirus?"), making a joke about Chinese people and the coronavirus. Both men ended up injured and the police later had to intervene. ## Bolivia Local authorities quarantined three Japanese nationals despite them having no coronavirus-related symptoms. ## Brazil Brazil's Education Minister, Abraham Weintraub, tweeted an anti-Chinese slur on 4 April 2020. He insinuated that China was responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic and that it was part of its "plan for world domination". In the original Portuguese, his tweet substituted the letter "r" with capital "L" – "BLazil" instead of "Brazil", for example – in a style commonly used to mock a Chinese accent. On 16 April 2020, a judge ruled in favor of tribes in the Javari Valley and barred the evangelical Christian group New Tribes Mission of Brazil from entering the area. The group UNIVAJA, which unites some of these tribes, released a statement identifying themselves as "survivors of previous genocidal plagues" and accusing the missionaries of "physically expos [ing] us to a lethal virus". Two months earlier, President Bolsonaro had selected a former missionary from New Tribes to head the government agency responsible for protecting these tribes. According to Brazilian journalist Gabriel Leão, Asian Brazilians have not been impacted as much by racism and discrimination as other Asian communities in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly those in the United States, United Kingdom, and other European countries. However, Leão expressed concern that anti-Asian sentiment will increase in Brazil as well, because of how Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro tried to use the pandemic as an opportunity to attack China, similar to Donald Trump. In early 2020, Bolsonaro reportedly became convinced that COVID-19 was "part of a Chinese government scheme to expand its global power".. According to Leão, there have already been reports of Brazilians of Asian descent suffering from pandemic-related harassment, for example, being told to "go back to their country" or being accused of "spreading the virus". He himself has heard strangers in Brazil casually curse the "Chinese virus". Chinese Brazilians in particular have been dealing with increased occurrences of discrimination in 2020, for example being told to "go back to China", "watch out for sellers", or to "get out, Chinese" [538]. One Chinese Brazilian in particular was told "Put the fucking mask on, you piece of shit. These pests come to our country to kill us. Go back to your country, you animal" when he tried to take off his mask to drink water at a clinic in Rio de Janeiro at the end of 2020. # Responses Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned racism against Chinese Canadians while attending a Lunar New Year festival in Toronto on 29 January 2020. Likewise, John Tory, the Mayor of Toronto, denounced xenophobia toward Chinese Canadians, amid reports of increasing stigma facing that community [540]. On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization's Emergency Committee issued a statement advising all countries to be mindful of the "principles of Article 3 of the IHR (the International Health Regulations)", which the WHO says is a caution against "actions that promote stigma or discrimination", when conducting national response measures to the outbreak. In response to the heightened outbreak of the virus in Italy, which caused the Chinese community to shut down businesses due to racist attacks, President Sergio Mattarella made a surprise visit on 6 February 2020 to a primary school in Rome where nearly half the pupils are Chinese, saying "Friendship and peace are fundamental and you know it." [544] [545]. An online petition titled "We zijn geen virussen!" ("We are not viruses!" in English) was started in the Netherlands on 8 February 2020 in protest of racism against Dutch Chinese and others of Asian descent, which garnered over 13,600 signatures on its first day and had been signed more than 57,600 times by the end of the month. On 27 February 2020, the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for solidarity with people of ethnic Asian origin subject to such discrimination. On 14 March 2020, more than two hundred civil rights groups in the United States demanded that the House of Representatives and Senate leadership publicly denounce the growing amount of anti-Asian racism related to the pandemic and take "tangible steps to counter the hysteria" around the coronavirus, offering the passage of a joint resolution denouncing the racism and xenophobia as one solution. Stop AAPI Hate, a joint project of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, Chinese for Affirmative Action, San Francisco State University's Asian American Studies Department, launched a website on 20 March 2020, encouraging the reporting of coronavirus-related harassment, discrimination, and bigotry. In the United States, The Anti-Defamation League, the FBI and former 2020 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang have also pointed out that the virus has led to increased incidents of antisemitism. New York Attorney General Letitia James launched a hotline for New Yorkers to report hate crimes and discrimination amid the coronavirus outbreak. In response to the scandal surrounding anti-African discrimination, provincial authorities in the Chinese province of Guangdong set up a hotline for foreign nationals and laid out measures discouraging businesses and rental houses in Guangzhou from refusing people based on race or nationality. In response to the rising discrimination against Asian Americans, the Black Lives Matter movement condemned the racism against Asian-Americans via Twitter. In 2020, Red Hong Yi (also referred to as 'Red'), a Malaysian artist, created and released a series of 10 artworks via her Instagram page titled "#IAMNOTAVIRUS" that depicted portraits of numerous Asian personalities out of foodstuff such as matcha leaves that she found in her house during lockdown. Acting as a response to anti-Asian hate crimes that heightened during the Coronavirus pandemic, she described the importance of "standing up for everyone no matter their skin colour." [557] [558]. In June 2021, the City Council of Aurora, Colorado, agreed to utilize city funds to supply Asian residents with safety kits and provide AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) training for Aurora police officers. This comes amidst a recent city council decision to reject a Statue of Peace proposal in Aurora. In response to the statue proposal being defeated, city staff wrote in a letter that "The memorials have attracted a wide-range of community response including peaceful and antagonistic free speech events, vandalism, Asian hate, and legal action requesting removal," and that "based on this information the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Department believes the memorial placement on city-owned property is not a compatible use." [559]. On 8 September 2021, research published by Mandiant and Google found that a network of thousands of fake social media accounts across dozens of social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, were linked to the Chinese government and were attempting to draw protests in the United States against anti-Asian-American sentiment and against allegations that China engineered SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in late 2019, precipitated a global upsurge in xenophobia and racism. The disease, first identified in Wuhan, China, led to widespread stigmatization and discrimination against individuals of Asian descent, particularly those thought to be Chinese. The World Health Organization, adhering to a policy from 2015 against geographically naming diseases, designated the illness COVID-19 in an effort to mitigate stigma and avoid implicating a particular country or population. Nevertheless, individuals and ethnic groups, notably those with Asian ancestry, faced a backlash fueled by fear and misinformation. The pandemic triggered xenophobic responses across Africa, with reports of verbal, physical, and online harassment in Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, alongside xenophobic policies. In Asia, discriminatory practices were directed both internally and toward foreigners. Bangladesh sent Rohingya refugees to an isolated island, while in China, there were numerous instances of prejudice against both foreigners and domestic migrants from Hubei province. Other Asian regions, including Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Palestine, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, and Vietnam, also encountered episodes of discrimination or racial bias. In Europe, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden, the UK, and Romani communities experienced a rise in xenophobic incidents. This increase was often linked to misinformation and political rhetoric. Canada and the United States in North America witnessed an escalation in hate crimes and racial incidents, frequently fueled by the circulation of terms such as "Chinese virus" or "Wuhan flu," used by political leaders and media outlets. Oceania was not immune, with Australia seeing a substantial number of incidents against its Asian population, and Fiji reported incidents against Japanese nationals. In South America, public figures in countries like Argentina and Brazil made discriminatory comments that further stigmatized individuals of Asian heritage. Global responses varied, with some leaders and organizations condemning the rise in xenophobia and racism. Measures were taken in China's Guangdong province to combat discrimination against Africans, while the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and other initiatives worldwide denounced racism against Asians and promoted reporting mechanisms for hate crimes. The pandemic laid bare existing racial tensions and underlined the need for continued awareness and interventions to counteract discrimination.

Shang-Chi_and_the_Legend_of_the_Ten_Rings

# Plot A thousand years ago, Xu Wenwu discovers the mystical ten rings which grant godly powers including immortality. He establishes the Ten Rings organization, conquering kingdoms and toppling governments throughout history. In 1996, Wenwu searches for Ta Lo, a village said to harbor mythical beasts. He travels through a magical forest to the village entrance but is stopped by a guardian, Ying Li. The two soon fall in love, but the Ta Lo villagers reject Wenwu so Li chooses to leave with him. They marry and have two children, Shang-Chi and Xialing. Wenwu abandons his organization and locks away the ten rings.. When Shang-Chi is seven years old, Li is murdered by Wenwu's enemies, the Iron Gang. Wenwu dons the rings once again, massacres the Iron Gang, and resumes leadership of his organization. He makes Shang-Chi undergo brutal training in martial arts but does not allow Xialing to train, prompting her to secretly teach herself. When Shang-Chi is 14, Wenwu sends him to assassinate the Iron Gang's leader. After completing his mission, a traumatized Shang-Chi runs away to San Francisco and adopts the name "Shaun".. In the present day, Shang-Chi works as a parking valet with his best friend Katy. They are attacked on a bus by the Ten Rings organization who steal a pendant that Li gave to Shang-Chi. Shang-Chi travels to Macau to find Xialing, fearing that the Ten Rings will go after her matching pendant. He reveals his past to Katy who insists on helping him. They find Xialing at a secret fight club which she founded after escaping from Wenwu at 16. The Ten Rings attack the fight club and Wenwu arrives to capture Shang-Chi, Katy, Xialing, and her pendant.. At the Ten Rings' compound, Wenwu uses the pendants to reveal a mystical map leading to Ta Lo. Wenwu explains that he has heard Li calling and believes she has been held captive in Ta Lo behind a sealed gate. He plans to destroy the village unless they release her. When his children and Katy object, he imprisons them. They meet former actor Trevor Slattery, whom the Ten Rings imprisoned for impersonating Wenwu, [a] and his hundun companion Morris. They escape and Morris guides them to Ta Lo, which exists in a separate dimension with various Chinese mythological creatures.. The group meet Li's sister Ying Nan who explains the history of Ta Lo: thousands of years ago, the village's universe was attacked by the soul-consuming Dweller-in-Darkness and its soul eaters, but was saved by a Chinese dragon called the Great Protector who helped seal the Dark Gate to the Dweller's world. According to Nan, the Dweller-in-Darkness has been impersonating Li so Wenwu will use the ten rings to open the Gate. Shang-Chi, Xialing, Katy, Slattery, and Morris join the villagers in training and preparing for Wenwu's arrival, using outfits and weapons crafted from dragon scales that are effective against the soul eaters.. Wenwu and the Ten Rings arrive and attack. Wenwu overpowers Shang-Chi, pushes him into the nearby lake, and attacks the Gate with the rings. This allows some of the Dweller's soul eaters to escape, with the Ten Rings allying with the villagers to effectively fight them. The Great Protector revives Shang-Chi and bears him from the lake to battle the soul eaters. Wenwu and Shang-Chi fight once more, and Shang-Chi gains the upper hand but chooses to spare Wenwu. The Dweller-in-Darkness escapes from the weakened Gate and attacks Shang-Chi. Wenwu saves Shang-Chi but is killed by the Dweller-in-Darkness; he bequeaths the rings to Shang-Chi before he dies. Shang-Chi, the Great Protector, Xialing, and Katy slay the Dweller-in-Darkness. Afterward, Shang-Chi and Katy return to San Francisco where the sorcerer Wong summons them to Kamar-Taj.. In a mid-credits scene, Wong introduces Shang-Chi and Katy to Bruce Banner and Carol Danvers and the group discusses the origins of the rings. They discover that the rings are acting as a beacon to something. In a post-credits scene, Xialing becomes the new leader of the Ten Rings, despite telling Shang-Chi that she would disband the organization, and begins training women alongside men.. # Cast Also appearing in the film are Ronny Chieng as Jon Jon, Xialing's right-hand man and announcer at her underground fighting club; Jodi Long as Mrs. Chen, Katy's mother; Dallas Liu as Ruihua, Katy's brother; Paul He as Chancellor Hui; Tsai Chin as Katy's grandmother; Andy Le as Death Dealer, one of Wenwu's assassins who trained Shang-Chi in his youth; Stephanie Hsu and Kunal Dudheker as Soo and John, married friends of Shang-Chi and Katy; Zach Cherry as Klev, a bus rider who livestreams one of Shang-Chi's fights (after portraying a street vendor in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming); and Dee Baker as the voice of Morris, a hundun who befriends Slattery [17] [37] [17] [17] [38]. Jade Xu reprises her role as a Black Widow named Helen from Black Widow (2021), while Tim Roth provides uncredited vocals for his The Incredible Hulk (2008) character Emil Blonsky / Abomination [39] [40]. Mark Ruffalo and Brie Larson appear, uncredited, in the mid-credits scene, reprising their respective MCU roles of Bruce Banner and Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel [41] [42]. # Production ## Development According to Margaret Loesch, former president and CEO of Marvel Productions, Stan Lee discussed a potential film or television series based on the Marvel Comics character Shang-Chi with actor Brandon Lee and his mother Linda Lee during the 1980s, with the intention of having Brandon Lee star as the character. Brandon's father, martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was the visual inspiration for artist Paul Gulacy when drawing Shang-Chi during his tenure on the Master of Kung Fu comic book in the 1970s [44]. In 2001, Stephen Norrington signed on to direct a Shang-Chi film entitled The Hands of Shang-Chi [45]. By 2003, it was in development at DreamWorks Pictures with Yuen Woo-Ping replacing Norrington as director and Bruce C [46] [47]. McKenna writing the screenplay. Ang Lee joined the project as a producer in 2004, but it did not materialize and the rights to the character reverted to Marvel [48]. In September 2005, Marvel chairman and CEO Avi Arad announced Shang-Chi as one of ten properties being developed as films by the newly formed Marvel Studios, after the company received financing to produce the slate with Paramount Pictures as distributor [47] [49]. Marvel thought the character could make a great film, despite being relatively unknown, because he has a "very Disney story" in the comic books [50]. The Ten Rings organization was introduced in Marvel Studios' first Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film, Iron Man (2008), without its leader the Mandarin. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige felt they could not do the character justice in the Iron Man films because they focused on Tony Stark / Iron Man, and planned to introduce him in a later film instead. According to Chris Fenton, former president of the Chinese-based film production company DMG Entertainment that was in talks with Marvel Studios to co-produce their films, Marvel offered to create a teaser featuring either Shang-Chi or the Mandarin for the Chinese market that would be featured at the end of The Avengers (2012) [51]. DMG balked at the offer since the Mandarin's negative stereotypical portrayal in the comics could potentially prevent the film from being released in China and risk DMG being shut down. The Mandarin would eventually appear in the DMG co-produced film Iron Man 3 (2013) portrayed by Ben Kingsley, but he is revealed to be an actor named Trevor Slattery who was hired to pose as the Mandarin. Feige felt this did not necessarily mean a more faithful version of the character did not exist in the MCU, and this was confirmed in the Marvel One-Shot short film All Hail the King (2014) in which Kingsley reprised his role as Slattery [52] [51]. By December 2018, Marvel had fast-tracked development of a Shang-Chi film with the intent of making it their first film with an Asian lead. Marvel hired Chinese-American writer Dave Callaham to write the screenplay, and began looking at Asian and Asian-American filmmakers to potentially direct the film. The studios' goal was to have Asian and Asian-American filmmakers explore themes related to their culture, as they had done for African and African-American culture with Black Panther earlier in 2018. Development of the film also came following the success of the film Crazy Rich Asians that was likewise released earlier in 2018 and led to several other Asian-led properties being developed by Hollywood studios [55]. Callaham's script was expected to modernize elements of the comic book story, which was first written in the 1970s, to avoid what modern audiences would consider to be negative stereotypes [56]. When Callaham began work on the script, he became emotional realizing it was the first project where he was asked to write "from my own experience, from my own perspective" [55]. Jessica Gao, who would later become the head writer of the Marvel Studios television series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), also presented a pitch for the film [11]. Richard Newby of The Hollywood Reporter said the film could "break out in a way similar to Black Panther" by bringing a new perspective to the character [57]. Newby felt Shang-Chi could have worked well as a television series, and said it "speaks volumes" that Marvel would decide to make a feature film about the character instead. Newby concluded that the film was an opportunity to avoid stereotypes about Asian martial artists and be "more than Marvel's Bruce Lee". Marvel Studios hired Japanese-American filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton to direct the film in March 2019. Deborah Chow—who previously directed episodes of Marvel Television's Iron Fist and Jessica Jones series—Justin Tipping, and Alan Yang were also considered. Cretton had previously not been interested in directing a superhero film, but was drawn to the project to help create a world and character that Asian children could look up to and see themselves in [59]. His pitch included visual inspiration from Chinese, South Korean, Japanese, and other Asian cinema, including anime, to highlight a tone that showed "the drama and the pain of life, but also show [ed] the humor of life" [7]. In April, Marvel Studios and Australian Arts Minister Mitch Fifield announced that an upcoming Marvel film, believed to be Shang-Chi, would be filmed at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney and on location throughout the state of New South Wales [60]. The production received AU$24 million (US$18 million) in one-off funding from the Australian government, as well as backing from the AU$10 million (US$8 million) "Made in NSW" state fund. The production was expected to generate AU$150 million (US$113 million) for the Australian economy as well as 4,700 new jobs, while taking advantage of around 1,200 local businesses. Don Harwin, the New South Wales Arts Minister, confirmed in July that this film was Shang-Chi and it would be produced back-to-back with Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) [61]. Production on Shang-Chi was set to begin in early 2020 and be completed later that year [62]. ## Pre-production ### Casting Marvel Studios began testing actors in their 20s for the role of Shang-Chi in mid-July 2019, including Lewis Tan and Simu Liu; Tan previously portrayed Zhou Cheng in Iron Fist [64] [65]. The studio was adamant that actors be of Chinese descent to audition for the character [65]. Liu was considered earlier in the audition process and was brought back in for a second audition when the creatives were finding it difficult to cast the role [64]. He tested again on July 14 and was officially cast on July 16 [51]. Awkwafina, who was the first actor cast for the film, had chemistry tests with the potential actors and said "it was apparent that [Liu] was Shang-Chi from the jump" . Liu and Awkwafina's castings were announced by Cretton and producer Feige at Marvel Studios' San Diego Comic-Con panel on July 20, where the film's full title was announced to be Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings [9]. Feige noted the connection between this title and the Ten Rings organization that had appeared throughout the MCU. He said the group's leader, the Mandarin, would be introduced in this film and Tony Leung had been cast in the role. Cretton had wanted to cast Leung but was doubtful he would accept the part . Despite this hesitation, producer Jonathan Schwartz decided to contact Leung and he accepted the role after a meeting with Cretton. In December, Feige said the film would feature a predominantly Asian cast. A month later, Michelle Yeoh entered talks for a role in the film [67]. This was for a different character than Aleta Ogord, who Yeoh had briefly portrayed in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). Jessica Henwick, who previously portrayed Colleen Wing in Iron Fist, was asked to audition for the role of Xialing in the film, but was concurrently offered the role of Bugs in The Matrix Resurrections (2021) [68] [69]. After being given an ultimatum to select one of the roles by the respective studios, Henwick chose the Resurrections part. This was partially because she hoped to reprise the role of Wing in a future MCU production [70]. Newcomer Meng'er Zhang was eventually cast in the role [69]. Kingsley reprises his role as Slattery in the film [17]. The character's inclusion was planned early on to help fully explore the "context of who the Mandarin is in the MCU" [71]. Schwartz called Slattery a "secret weapon" whose introduction part-way through the film moves it in a different direction and provides comic relief [72]. ### Writing In addition to Callaham, Cretton and Andrew Lanham also contributed to the screenplay for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings from a story by Callaham and Cretton. The film was described as a "sweeping superhero epic that combines emotional family drama with gravity-defying martial arts action" [28] [73]. Schwartz said much of Shang-Chi's arc within Marvel Comics is a family drama, and Cretton wanted to focus on that element for the film, exploring Shang-Chi's broken and abusive family background. Liu noted that the comic book backstory for Shang-Chi is not widely known like those for comic book characters such as Batman or Spider-Man, and that gave the film's writers freedom to take more creative liberties with the story. Cretton and Callaham were cognizant of some of the racial stereotypes surrounding the character in the comics, with Liu saying everyone involved was "very sensitive to not have it go into stereotypical territory". Cretton believed the resulting script was a "really beautiful update" to the character from what began in the comics. Cretton felt the film told an authentic story about Asian identity. Callaham said there is "no single Asian American voice", and he and Cretton contemplated how the film could speak to "the wider Asian diaspora" and would be generally entertaining but also "personal to all these people" [7]. Cast members Liu, Leung, and Zhang contributed their own experiences coming from Canada, Hong Kong, and mainland China, respectively, to add to the authenticity of the film [11]. Some aspects that were discussed regarding each scene were whether characters should be speaking in Chinese Mandarin or English and the type of food served in the different households to ensure it felt authentic to whose house it was. The film's opening begins with narration entirely in Mandarin, which Nancy Wang Yuen, writing for io9, said was a striking decision for an MCU film to "begin in a language other than English and continue to do so for an extended period". Regarding the use of Mandarin in the film, Cretton said the choice of which language to use when was "always rooted in just the logic of the characters and who would naturally be speaking what language". Zhang, whose first language is Mandarin, served as a dialect coach for the other actors. Shang-Chi further deals with some of the negative characterization around Asian-Americans and languages by portraying its characters as having varied knowledge of Asian languages, as demonstrated by an exchange with Katy and the character Jon Jon when Jon Jon says he speaks "ABC" (American-born Chinese). Another such moment is when Shang-Chi teaches Katy how to pronounce his name, which serves as a meta moment to also aid the audience on learning the proper pronunciation of "Shang-Chi". Cretton felt it was important to have "many strong women" around Shang-Chi that were "kicking his butt into gear" in contrast to the relationship between Shang-Chi and his father Wenwu (the film's version of the Mandarin). These supporting characters also have their own narrative arcs. Cretton's three sisters and his wife helped inspire the characters Katy, Xialing, Ying Nan, and Ying Li [24]. Speaking to the relationship between Shang-Chi and Katy, Cretton enjoyed being able to show a strong, "deeply caring" friendship that is rarely seen in superhero films, adding that it would have felt forced to have the two characters end up in a romantic relationship together [75]. Yeoh requested a scene be added between her character Ying Nan and Zhang's Xialing that would empower Xialing to "step out of the shadows for the first time"; this scene became an important part of Xialing's journey in the film and was one of the many scenes that also addressed the sexism presented in the story [76]. Cretton felt seeing Xialing become the new head of the Ten Rings organization in the film's post-credits scene was reflective of her beginning to take control of her life [24]. Various versions of the scene existed throughout the production before it was moved to be after the credits since they thought it was "a juicy idea for where the story might go in the future". ### Design Sue Chan served as production designer for the film. The first location that she and the crew scouted was San Francisco, where Chan previously lived. She suggested Clement Street, "the old Chinatown of San Francisco", as the characters' home because it does not have the expected Chinatown cliches. The film's San Francisco apartment set was one of Chan's favorites due to its accuracy to real Asian-American houses. Another favorite was a restaurant set where Wenwu kills his enemies, for which Chan took inspiration from Hong Kong gangster films. Cretton wanted Xialing's fight club to be fun and show her character rather than be scary and dangerous. Chan noted that Xialing's office combines imagery of skulls with flowers and bold colors, and the sets incorporate the character's feminist views. The fighting arena is an octagon because the number eight is significant in Asian cultures. For Ta Lo, Chan researched ancient Chinese culture and designs and took elements from many eras since the village is not from a specific time in Chinese history. These elements includes symbolism, styles, and colors from the Tang and Song dynasties. Key symbols for the village were the five Chinese elements of wood, water, fire, metal, and earth, with metal being replaced with dragon scales for the film. These elements were used as the basis of the village set, along with traditional construction elements such as bamboo (both real and artificial bamboo was used). The village itself was built in an open area by a reservoir outside of Sydney and all of the buildings in the village were planned, built, and dressed as they would be used by the inhabitants. These include a pottery shed, a cooking shed, and a schoolroom, all built around the central temple which is open on all sides and contains the history of Ta Lo. Ta Lo's universe is inhabited by various Chinese mythological creatures, including dragons, fenghuang, shishi, hundun, jiuwei hu, and qilin [77] [78]. Andy Park led Marvel Studios' visual development team for the film, and specifically designed Shang-Chi's hero costume [79] [80]. The costume combines elements of his own style with those from both his parents: the jacket is made from the Ta Lo dragon scales and is a gift from his mother, he receives the ten rings from his father at the end of the film, and he wears his own American shoes. Costume designer Kym Barrett also researched ancient Chinese designs and then adapted these to suit the film's stunt needs [81]. The Ten Rings logo that was originally designed for the MCU featured a circle of ten interlocked rings with characters from the Mongolian language. The logo's appearance in Iron Man 3 drew ire from the Mongolian government who felt the Mongolian scripts "offensively tied the country's intangible cultural heritage to a terrorist group". The logo was updated for Shang-Chi to use "inoffensive" Chinese characters instead, including synonyms for strength or power written in ancient seal script. Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, Mongolia's former minister of culture, sports and tourism, believed the change was more to appease the Chinese market than the Mongolian government. The actual ten rings are portrayed as bangles worn on the wrist rather than as finger rings like they are in the comics [83]. Schwartz said multiple approaches to the rings were discussed, and the comic-accurate design looked "a little goofy in practice" and was too similar to the Infinity Stones that appear throughout the MCU. The Ten Rings compound goes through four stages in the film that reflect Wenwu's character: it begins as a "cold" fortress that prominently features the Ten Rings logo; the compound then becomes a family home with bright colors, gardens, design elements from the Ta Lo village, and a mosaic of a phoenix replacing the Ten Rings logo; the color was then stripped from the sets to make it a "desolate shell" as Wenwu mourns the death of his wife; and finally elements of Xialing's fight club are introduced in the post-credits scene as she takes over the compound and makes it her own [84]. ## Filming Principal photography began in February 2020, shooting at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney and on location throughout the state of New South Wales, under the working title Steamboat [85] [86] [61]. William Pope served as cinematographer for the film, shooting on the Arri Alexa LF [87]. Cretton chose Pope because he felt the cinematographer's style could be both naturalistic and heightened, and because of Pope's work on The Matrix (1999) which Cretton believed had the right tone for an MCU film focused on Asian and Asian-American characters [88]. Pope already wanted to work with Cretton after being impressed by his film Short Term 12 (2013) [63]. Cretton was inspired for his direction by Jackie Chan's filmography, the Ip Man series, Tai Chi Master (1993), and Kung Fu Hustle (2004) among others in the martial arts and kung-fu genres, as well as anime and video games [89] [12]. On March 12, after studios had started halting production on films due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cretton decided to have himself tested for coronavirus after working closely with people who had potentially been exposed to it. This was a precaution due to Cretton having a newborn baby, and he self-isolated while awaiting these results; the test later came back negative [86] [90] [90]. While Cretton was self-isolating, Marvel suspended first unit production for the film but intended for other aspects such as second unit to continue as normal [86]. On March 13, the rest of the film's production was paused as Disney halted filming on most of its projects [90]. Before the shut down, Ronny Chieng joined the cast in an undisclosed role [91]. In early April, Disney shifted much of the MCU's Phase Four slate of films due to the pandemic, moving Shang-Chi's release date to May 7, 2021 [92]. Work building sets for the film resumed at the end of July 2020, and by August 2 all cast and crew members had arrived to begin shooting "in the coming days". Any cast and crew returning to Australia had to be quarantined for two weeks upon arrival before returning to work, according to Australia's COVID-19 guidelines [94]. Later in August, Yeoh was confirmed to be appearing in the film [95]. The next month, the film's release date was pushed back to July 9, 2021, after Black Widow was shifted to the May 2021 date [96]. In October, filming took place in San Francisco, also under the working title Steamboat [97]. Due to the pandemic, crew in Australia could not travel to San Francisco for this filming [98]. Shooting locations included the Russian Hill, Noe Valley, and Nob Hill neighborhoods, as well as Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square [77]. Filming wrapped on October 24, 2020 [99] [100]. ### Choreography Cretton wanted to use a range of different fighting styles in the film due to Shang-Chi being trained in different types of martial arts. These include the "elegant, almost ethereal wushu style" from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and the "kinetic" fights of Jackie Chan's films. Supervising stunt coordinator Brad Allan along with other members of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team became responsible for making the different styles feel consistent, as well as containing elements of Hong Kong action cinema [7]. Schwartz said there was a meaning for each fighting style in the film, and they helped to tell the story visually [60]. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is dedicated to Allan, who died in August 2021 [7]. The bus fight sequence was part of Cretton's initial pitch for the film. He called it a "what-if scenario" that helped explain the kind of fight sequences he enjoyed, "ones where the stakes just keep rising as the fight continues". Once it was decided to include the sequence in the film and planning for it began, Cretton credited Allan for bringing the "Buster Keaton-like physical comedy [to the fight], mixed with setups and payoffs, and stakes rising ... to almost ridiculous levels". The stunt team added a specific reference to Jackie Chan, who is known for this style of fighting, in which Shang-Chi takes off his jacket, spins it around while fighting, and puts it back on [42]. Fight coordinator Andy Cheng said the whole sequence took over a year to plan, going through as many as 20 different iterations, with most of the differences pertaining to the fighting within the bus [104]. He said figuring out how the bus would be sliced in half and choreographing a fight around that was the most difficult part. The stunt team put together 10 to 15 different "stuntviz" edits planning out the sequence [105]. Two buses were shipped to Sydney for filming the sequence's interior shots. These buses were taken apart and re-assembled on a 15 feet (4.6 m) high gimbal and a 3.3 feet (1.0 m) high gimbal, with the windows and seats removed most of the time for safety. The sequence was partially completed when the production shut down for COVID, requiring those involved to "retune" once production resumed [77] [105]. Filming for the interior shots took around six weeks [105]. The exterior shots were filmed in San Francisco, with a different crew due to the pandemic [88]. The visual effects team planned out the shoot remotely so the unit could get the footage that was needed [77]. Four more buses were used for this portion of the sequence, including one that was filmed crashing down a hill into several cars [88]. The entire sequence was shot in 48 fps to help with tracking and making adjustments, and was then converted back to 24 fps [104]. The shots in slow-motion were shot at 250 fps using a Phantom Camera. The sequence ends at a real intersection in San Francisco that was partially filmed in Sydney and combined with footage from San Francisco by the visual effects team [88]. Cretton said there were some "fudges" in how accurate the sequence was to San Francisco—"you can't go downhill for six minutes straight"—but was mostly based on a real route, suggested by Chan [77] [104]. The bus is meant to be a Muni bus but different branding was used due to that company not wanting to be associated with a crashing bus [77]. Cretton initially told Leung that he would not need to fight due to Wenwu's use of the ten rings, but the actor did ultimately have several fight sequences and only had two weeks to prepare for them. He said this was not difficult due to his experience acting in action films. The character's first action scene, where he falls in love with Ying Li, took specific inspiration from the wuxia-style of films such as Hero (2002) which Leung starred in, and he said filming the scene reminded him of his early career [21] [21] [89] [106]. The fight in Macau on scaffolding outside Xialing's fightclub was filmed against bluescreen on several sets of scaffolding, including one that was built on a 45-degree gimbal to achieve a specific shot with Xialing [21]. The Kamehameha attack from the anime series Dragon Ball Z was an inspiration for the final fight between Shang-Chi and Wenwu, which Cretton also included in his pitch [88]. ## Post-production Nat Sanders and Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir served as co-editors on the film, alongside Harry Yoon [107]. In December 2020, Marvel revealed roles for several cast members, including Awkwafina as Shang-Chi's friend Katy, Yeoh as Jiang Nan, and Chieng as Jon Jon [108]. They also announced the casting of Zhang as Xialing, Fala Chen as Jiang Li, and Florian Munteanu as Razor Fist; Munteanu was cast after Marvel Studios was impressed with his role in Creed II (2018) [109]. In March 2021, the film's release date was pushed back once again to September 3, 2021, when Black Widow was shifted to the July 2021 date, and Dallas Liu was revealed to be appearing [110] [111]. The film's official trailer in June 2021 revealed that Benedict Wong would reprise his MCU role of Wong, and the character Abomination would be appearing alongside him; the Abomination first appeared in The Incredible Hulk (2008) portrayed by Tim Roth, and Roth returned to provide uncredited vocals for the character in Shang-Chi [29] [113] [114]. Feige enjoyed returning to the Abomination after over a decade since his last MCU appearance, especially with the fans recognizing and embracing the reference in the trailer [41] [42]. The characters were added to the film after Gao created a storyline for them in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, so the audience could be reminded of Abomination and get excited for their upcoming appearances in the series [29]. Wong was thrilled to be part of the film and its Asian cast, expressing excitement to be "sat at a table of Asian excellence" [115] [116]. The film's mid-credits scene, which features Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, was conceived late in production by Cretton to tease the origins of the ten rings. Several origins were written for the rings, but Callaham said none of these made a difference to the film's story so they decided to leave the origin ambiguous which meant it could be addressed in a later MCU project. Cretton hoped they could feature Wong in the scene and have him go to karaoke with Shang-Chi and Katy to sing "Hotel California", but was unsure which additional Avengers characters would appear until late in post-production [43]. Banner and Danvers were chosen since they each represent the science and space aspects of the MCU, respectively, and because their appearances align with other events in the MCU happening around the time of the scene [119] [43]. Cretton also jokingly acknowledged that Larson's appearance continued her streak of appearing in his films after the pair worked together on Short Term 12, The Glass Castle (2017), and Just Mercy (2019) [119]. Ruffalo and Larson filmed their roles in early 2021 during the film's additional photography [42] [43]. Feige said the scene indicated how important Shang-Chi is to the MCU, likening it to Nick Fury's appearance in the post-credits scene of Iron Man [119]. ### Visual effects Christopher Townsend was hired to be the visual effects supervisor for the film. He worked with eleven different vendors, and also hired the Australia-based Joe Farrell to serve as an additional supervisor working with another five vendors. They created more than 1,700 visual effects shots for the film. Farrell supervised the bus sequence in Sydney (and remotely for the San Francisco portion of shooting) and said it was one of the most complicated sequences he and Townsend had worked on. The scene featured 168 shots, with 40 to 50 of them being mostly digital. The environment required digital pieces for the bus, buildings, and people. Farrell said the sequence's motion made editing difficult, especially in regards to the nine passengers. They were mapped out to know where they were at all times and sometimes were digitally moved around. Because the Macau fight takes place on scaffolding outside a glass building, Rodeo FX had to rotoscope around the actors and replace the entire background. A digital version of downtown Macau was created based on reference filming that Farrell again supervised remotely. The map to Ta Lo went through many iterations to determine how that information should be conveyed. Cretton felt the completed scene, which uses water effects, connected well to the story and was "visually beautiful". The film's main-on-end title sequence, designed by Perception, also focuses on the movement of water [42]. Rising Sun Pictures contributed more than 300 visual effects shots to the film and was primarily responsible for creating Ta Lo [121]. They based the geography of the forest on different locations in Southeast Asia, and integrated this digital environment with some practical elements from material shot in Sydney. The team also worked with the Australian Institute for Machine Learning to develop an advanced technique for facial replacement, powered by artificial intelligence, which was used to replace the stunt double's faces with those of the principal actors for the action scenes. The hundun Morris was inspired by Cretton's family dog, a 15-year-old dachshund [122]. Images of hunduns, which do not have faces, were included during early development as potential inspiration for the film and Cretton wanted to feature one in the film in some way after seeing them. Morris was a green screen "blob" during filming, with Cretton crediting Kingsley for helping to "breathe life into him", making it feel as if Morris was a real character. Multiple different designs were tested for the character, including one that had him looking "like a plucked chicken", but the creatives wanted to ensure Morris remained cute, which was challenging since a character's eyes and face help convey their emotion. As such, they relied on the look of his fur and feathers. Wētā FX contributed more than 305 visual effects shots to the film, including creating the ten rings. Wētā visual effects supervisor Sean Walker said creating realistic-looking rings digitally was not complicated, but getting the correct movements for each character was; Shang-Chi uses the rings defensively while Wenwu uses them in an aggressive manner. Feige initially wanted the energy of each ring to have its own color as a reference to the comic book rings, which each have a different ability, but they found this to be too distracting. Instead, the energy of the rings is based on who is using them, with warmer orange energy for Shang-Chi and a cooler blue color for Wenwu [124]. Wētā also created the Great Protector and the Dweller-in-Darkness for the final action sequence [125]. The Great Protector's scales were initially based on quartz, porcelain, and shells before the team found images of albino lizards, alligators, and snakes that they thought were the perfect reference for the creature. The dragon's hair was then simulated on top. In contrast, the Dweller-in-Darkness was based on rhino and elephant hides and armored lizards. The souls that the Dweller-in-Darkness and its soul eaters consume were intended to be colorful visualizations of chakras but this was ultimately toned down to a more subtle effect. # Music Joel P. West, who scored Cretton's four previous films, returned to compose the score for Shang-Chi; he acknowledged that this was the biggest film he had ever worked on [127]. West began working on the film when Cretton was hired and developed his ideas throughout the filmmaking process. He wrote "ominous" and "dominating" music for Wenwu and more "ethereal" music for Ying Li, and then combined these to create Shang-Chi's music since the story is about him accepting both sides of his family. West spent months researching Chinese music so he could incorporate traditional Chinese elements into the score, primarily for Ying Li and Ta Lo. Recording took place with a 70-piece London orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London by June 2021, with the UK Chinese Ensemble also providing traditional Chinese instruments and performances for the score [128] [127] [128]. An album featuring the film's score was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on September 1, 2021. Marvel Music, Hollywood Records, and Interscope Records also released four separate singles inspired by the film ahead of its release: "Lazy Susan" by 21 Savage and Rich Brian, "Every Summertime" by Niki, "Run It" by DJ Snake, Rick Ross, and Rich Brian, and "In the Dark" by Swae Lee & Jhené Aiko [129] [130] [131] [132]. A soundtrack album was released on September 3 containing these in addition to songs by JJ Lin, Saweetie, Anderson .Paak, and other members of the "next generation of Asian artists" [133]. This was produced by Sean Miyashiro and 88rising, who worked with Cretton to tell a story in the album about the Asian-American experience with particular inspiration from San Francisco because that city is featured in the film. # Marketing On April 19, 2021, which was Liu's birthday, he shared the first teaser poster for the film. This was shortly followed by Marvel releasing the first teaser trailer. Adam B [73]. Vary of Variety felt it was "gratifying to finally see Liu in action as Shang-Chi" and highlighted how the teaser provided further insight into details such as how the film would depict the Mandarin wearing the ten rings. Cole Delbyck at HuffPost said the "eye-popping" action was unlike anything seen in past MCU films [18]. Writing for io9, Rob Bricken felt the teaser did not disappoint with its action, but the family drama was what made the film look compelling to him [136]. Collider's Adam Chitwood called the teaser "pretty fantastic", comparing its story and tone to Black Panther and saying Shang-Chi looked to be "an exciting, fresh, and new Marvel Cinematic Universe experience" based on the teaser [137]. Reactions to the poster and trailer in Chinese speaking regions in East Asia were more critical, with commentators believing both presented a stereotypical view of Chinese people and culture [73]. The film's first full trailer was released on June 24, 2021, during ESPN's NBA Countdown. Sean Keane at CNET enjoyed seeing more of Leung in the trailer and called the fight sequences "super-impressive". He was surprised by the inclusion of Abomination at the end of the trailer and noted that the character looked more like his design from the comics than when he appeared in The Incredible Hulk. Digital Spy's Gabriella Geisinger felt the Abomination's role in the film would just be a cameo appearance to set up the character's story in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law but also felt it could have "wide-reaching implications" for the MCU [139]. Germain Lussier of io9, Susana Polo of Polygon, and Jennifer Ouellette of Ars Technica all felt the trailer was a better showcase for Shang-Chi than the teaser was, with Ouellette highlighting the different narration for the trailer that expanded on Shang-Chi's family background [140] [141] [142] [143]. Lussier also noted a lot of new visual effects in the trailer that were not in the teaser, and felt Shang-Chi would soon become a big star despite not being a well-known character [143]. On August 15, 2021, Ron Han created a GoFundMe drive to raise money for Asian American Pacific Islander (API) children at the Boys & Girls Club in San Gabriel Valley to see Shang-Chi, as well as a larger "Shang-Chi challenge" for other people to create similar drives for their communities; the challenge was inspired by a similar one created for Black Panther. By the end of the month, API nonprofit organization Gold House partnered with GoFundMe to create the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Gold Open Community Fund to raise money for private screenings of the film for the API community and non-profit groups [144] [145]. An episode of the series Marvel Studios: Legends was released on September 1, exploring the Ten Rings organization using footage from its previous MCU appearances [145]. Beginning September 3, Shang-Chi and Death Dealer began appearing in Disneyland's Avengers Campus [146]. Promotional partners for the film included Sanzo beverages, which released a limited edition version of lychee flavor; Microsoft; BMW, which acted as the film's global car sponsor and had the BMW iX3 and BMW M8 appear in the film; Old Spice; and international sponsors including Visa, Virgin Plus, Gruppo TIM, Mikron Group, and BGF [147] [148] [148] [149] [150]. # Release ## Theatrical Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings had its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre and TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on August 16, 2021, and was screened at CinemaCon on August 25 [151] [152]. The film was released in international markets beginning on September 1, and had been released in 66% of its markets by the end of its first weekend [153]. The film was released in the United States on September 3, in over 4,200 theaters, of which 400 were IMAX, over 850 were premium large format, 1,500 were 3D, and an additional 275 were the D-Box, 4DX, and ScreenX formats [154] [155]. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is part of Phase Four of the MCU [154]. Shang-Chi was previously scheduled to be released on February 12, 2021, the first day of the Chinese New Year, before it was shifted to May 7, and then to July 9, delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic [157] [93]. The film shifted once again in March 2021 to the September 2021 date after Black Widow was moved to the July 9 release date [97]. In Australia, Shang-Chi was released on September 2, with a planned release in New South Wales, Victoria, and Australian Capital Territory on September 16 because of COVID-19-related state lockdowns; it was ultimately released in New South Wales on October 11 when theaters in the state reopened [111] [158]. The film had a 45-day exclusive theatrical release, rather than being released simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access like Black Widow was. In August 2021, with the increase of COVID-19 Delta variant cases, Disney CEO Bob Chapek explained that the film would stay theatrical-only for its 45-day window due to logisitical reasons and said this window was an interesting experiment for the company to learn more on how consumers wished to view their films; Liu took issue with Chapek calling the film an experiment, but Feige later stated that Liu's response appeared to be based on a misunderstanding of Chapek's intention [155] [160] [161]. In May 2021, a Chinese state media report excluded Shang-Chi, as well as Marvel's Eternals, from its list of upcoming MCU films being released. Variety noted that this added to rumors that the films would not be released in China. In September 2021, Deadline Hollywood reported that a theatrical release in China was unlikely due to comments Liu made in an interview with the CBC in 2017 which referenced his parents' negative experiences living in China [138]. Disney still listed the film's release in China as "to be determined" in October, but it ultimately did not receive a theatrical release in the country [163] [164]. ## Home media The film was released on digital download on November 12, 2021, as well as on Disney+ as part of the service's "Disney+ Day" celebration [166]. Disney+ also received the IMAX Enhanced version of the film [167]. It was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on November 30 [168]. The home media of the film includes audio commentary, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and various behind-the-scenes featurettes. Following the release of Shang-Chi on Disney+, viewer tracking application Samba TV reported that over 1.7 million U.S. households watched the film within its first weekend of availability. Samba TV also reported viewership numbers for the United Kingdom (250,000), Germany (85,000), and Australia (17,000), while TV Time reported that it was the most-streamed film in the United States during that same time frame [169]. Nielsen stated that it was the second-most-streamed film, behind Netflix's Red Notice, with a viewership of 1.072 billion minutes in its first week [170]. Asian Americans made up 10% of the audience, the highest percentage for any title on the chart. The film remained in the top five on Nielsen and TV Time's charts in the following weeks, and TV Time stated that it was the sixth most-streamed-film globally in 2021 [171] [172] [173]. The film was number one on the NPD Videoscan First Alert chart, which tracks combined sales of DVDs and Blu-rays, and the dedicated Blu-ray sales chart for two weeks [174]. It was the third most-selling title on disc for December 2021 according to the NPD Group [175] [176]. # Reception ## Box office Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings grossed $224.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $207.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $432.2 million. It became the highest-grossing film ever released on Labor Day weekend, and earned $13.2 million worldwide from IMAX, another Labor Day weekend record [4] [5] [148]. Shang-Chi earned $29.6 million on its opening day (which included $8.8 million from its Thursday night previews), the third-best opening day since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The Thursday night previews gross was the second-highest of the pandemic, behind Black Widow ($13.2 million). It grossed $75.5 million over its three-day opening weekend, the second-largest of the pandemic behind Black Widow ($80.3 million). IMAX contributed $8 million, which was a record for a Labor Day weekend release. The film earned $94.67 million over the four-day Labor Day weekend, surpassing Halloween's (2007) $30.6 million to become the largest Labor Day weekend opening ever. The film surpassed $100 million in five days, the fastest film to reach that milestone since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) did it in its opening weekend [148]. Shang-Chi remained the number one film in its second weekend, earning $35.8 million which was the largest second weekend gross of the pandemic, and in its third weekend when it earned $21.7 million, the second-largest third weekend gross for a September release behind It (2017) [179] [180]. It was the third MCU film following Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Black Panther to remain the top film for four consecutive weeks, and was the first film of the pandemic era to surpassed $200 million in the United States and Canada when it did so on September 30 [181] [182]. It was the third-highest-grossing film in its fifth weekend, the fourth-highest in its sixth weekend, and remained in the top ten at the box office for two additional weekends [183] [184] [185]. The film ended its run at the United States and Canada box office as the second highest-grossing film of 2021 behind Spider-Man: No Way Home [186] [187]. The film earned $56.2 million from 41 markets in its opening weekend, opening number one in many. The United Kingdom release had the largest opening day of the pandemic, and the largest three-day opening weekend of the pandemic with $7.7 million [178] [148]. In Hong Kong, the film produced the largest September opening weekend, as well as the second-best opening during the pandemic. Nancy Tartaglione of Deadline Hollywood noted South Korea's $6.5 million opening was an underperformance for the market and an MCU film, though it was the first Hollywood film to open at number one there in several weeks. In its second weekend, the film earned $35.2 million from 42 markets, remaining number one in several [178]. In its third weekend, the film earned an additional $20.3 million from 43 markets and was still the top film in territories such as Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and the UK [189]. The film remained at number one in all of the territories in its fourth weekend, when it opened in Indonesia [190]. It was number one there as well with $1.2 million. Shang-Chi was the top film in Australia for nine weekends, with its highest-grossing day coming on October 31, 2021 [191]. As of October 2021, the film's largest markets are the United Kingdom ($27.1 million), South Korea ($14.9 million), and France ($11.5 million) [192]. ## Critical response The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 92%, with an average score of 7.5/10, based on 344 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings isn't entirely free of Marvel's familiar formula, but this exciting origin story expands the MCU in more ways than one." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews" [193]. Critics commonly praised the film's representation of Asian culture which differentiated it from other MCU films, as well as the performances and action sequences [194]. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 91% of audience members gave it a positive score and 78% said they would definitely recommend it [195]. Peter Debruge at Variety said the decision to give the "second-tier" Shang-Chi the same "over-the-top treatment" as major Marvel heroes had broadened Marvel Studios' cultural representation and would empower audiences of Asian descent in a similar way to what Black Panther did for audiences of African descent. Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter felt the film did not combine its martial-arts, fantasy elements, and exploration of Chinese and Asian-American culture "as smoothly as [it] should", but did find it to be a fresh and fun superhero film [28]. Giving the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, RogerEbert.com's Nick Allen said the film fit within Marvel's formula but had a soulfulness that other MCU films, as well as superhero and action films in general, did not have [196]. He concluded that Shang-Chi was not an experiment for Marvel and Disney but rather "a promising template for how they can get it right again". Writing for Empire, Laura Sirikul said the film was "a winning blend" of Chinese culture and the Marvel formula that avoided Asian stereotypes and called out some of Marvel's past "racial errors" [8]. Francesca Rivera at IGN felt the film had successfully balanced the "real-life complicated conflict between first-gen Asian American children and the wishes of their immigrant parents" with the needs of an MCU film [102]. Alexis Nedd said Liu was "flawless" as Shang-Chi and compared his casting to that of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man and Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America in the MCU. Jake Cole of Slant Magazine was more critical, giving the film 1.5 out of 4 stars and criticizing Liu's performance as being "curiously affectless" [198]. Cole also criticized the film's flashbacks which he felt slowed the overall story down, but praised Leung as "effortlessly convey [ing] the calm malice with which Wenwu asserts his absolute power as well as the anguish that the man feels over the loss of his wife". Allen said Leung was the film's most brilliant casting, and Han praised his performance for bringing sincerity to Wenwu which made him a "supervillain with a soul" [199] [8]. Katie Rife at The A.V [196]. Club said Leung "exudes the type of movie-star charisma critics sometimes complain is on the decline". Rife felt Leung was not being challenged by the material in the film but was still able to bring emotional depth to Wenwu. Sirikul praised the performances of Liu, Awkwafina, and Leung, but felt some of the character arcs were undermined by the film's convoluted story and rushed ending [200]. Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt highlighted Zhang, who she felt deserved her own spin-off, and Awkwafina [102]. Rivera praised the film's action sequences as the best of the MCU so far, focusing on the choreography and cinematography and particularly highlighting the wuxia-style fight between Wenwu and Li at the start of the film, but criticized the digital backgrounds in Ta Lo. Wenlei Ma at News.com.au also said the film's action had some of the best choreography of the MCU [197]. Greenblatt praised the bus fight, fight club, and skyscraper fight sequences as "astonishing set pieces", while Matt Goldberg at Collider also praised the action set pieces for combining classic kung-fu movie influences with MCU visual effects [202] [201]. Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle said the bus fight was "one of the best car chases in San Francisco movie history" [203]. Allen enjoyed the various fight sequences, saying Cretton changed the height, light, reflections, and staging for each [204]. He described the film's final act as "such an over-the-top, giddy, rollercoaster ride that you can't help but root for it". In contrast, Cole took issue with the amount of visual effects in the action sequences and said the final act "devolves into loud and chaotic visual nonsense" [8]. At /Film, Hoai-Tran Bui also criticized the visual effects-heavy third act but said the film had "one of the more forgivable ones, if only because it verges on full fantasia", and praised the wuxia moments [199]. ## Accolades In December 2021, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings received the Vanguard Award at Unforgettable Gala's 19th Annual Asian American Awards, an honor previously held by The Farewell (2019). # Documentary special In February 2021, the documentary series Marvel Studios: Assembled was announced. The specials go behind the scenes of the MCU films and television series with cast members and additional creatives. A special for this film, "The Making of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings", goes behind the scenes of the making of the film and was released on Disney+ on November 12, 2021 [231]. # Sequel By December 2021, development on a sequel had begun with Cretton returning to write and direct. Liu was also expected to return as Shang-Chi by the following month [233]. He wanted the sequel to explore what his character would do with the "newfound power" of the ten rings, as well as how he fits into the larger MCU. Liu said in July 2023 that he was unsure when the film would be made [234]. He had been told that it would be released after Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (2026), which was originally scheduled for 2025 but had since been delayed. He hoped more details on the sequel would be able to be shared soon.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is an action-packed Marvel Studios film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. It tells the epic journey of Shang-Chi, who is forced to confront his complex past involving the Ten Rings organization and his father, Xu Wenwu. A millennium ago, Wenwu discovered the ten mystical rings that bestow immortality and established the Ten Rings organization, becoming a powerful force through the ages. In 1996, Wenwu's search for the village of Ta Lo leads him to meet and fall in love with Ying Li, the village's guardian. Despite the village's rejection, they marry and have two children, Shang-Chi and Xialing. Following Ying Li's death, Wenwu returns to his previous life and raises Shang-Chi to be an assassin. At 14, Shang-Chi is sent on a mission to kill the leader of the Iron Gang, responsible for his mother's death. Traumatized, Shang-Chi flees to San Francisco, assuming the name "Shaun," and builds a life away from his past. However, his past catches up with him when the Ten Rings organization targets him for a pendant given by his mother. Shang-Chi, along with his best friend Katy, seek out his estranged sister Xialing, to protect her from their father's forces. During a confrontation, Wenwu captures them and reveals his plan to break open a mystical gate in Ta Lo, believing it imprisons his wife. The protagonists are imprisoned by Wenwu but manage to escape with the help of former actor Trevor Slattery and his mythical hundun companion, Morris. They travel to Ta Lo and learn from Ying Nan, Li's sister, about the village's history and the soul-consuming Dweller-in-Darkness behind the gate. Shang-Chi and his allies join the villagers, preparing for Wenwu's arrival, using dragon-scale weapons. A battle ensues, where Wenwu uses the rings to weaken the gate. When the Dweller-in-Darkness threatens to break free, Wenwu and Shang-Chi engage in a climactic battle. Wenwu transfers the rings to Shang-Chi before succumbing to the Dweller-in-Darkness. With the help of the Great Protector dragon, Shang-Chi and his companions defeat the Dweller-in-Darkness, preserving the village. Following their victory, Shang-Chi and Katy return to San Francisco, only to be summoned by Wong to Kamar-Taj, signaling their induction into a broader universe of heroes. In the mid-credits, they discuss the rings' mysterious origins with Bruce Banner and Carol Danvers, discovering the rings serve as a beacon. The post-credits scene shows Xialing assuming leadership of the Ten Rings organization. The cast includes notable actors such as Tony Leung, Awkwafina, Meng'er Zhang, and Ben Kingsley, with cameos from Tim Roth and Mark Ruffalo. The film delves into Asian culture with a predominantly Asian cast and highlights martial arts. It premiered in Los Angeles on August 16, 2021, and released in theaters on September 3, 2021. The movie received positive reviews for its groundbreaking representation of Asian culture, dynamic action sequences, and powerful performances, and it grossed over $432 million globally. A sequel has been confirmed with Cretton at the helm, promising to continue Shang-Chi's journey in the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe.

2020_California_wildfires

# Early outlook Early in the year, there was a concern for the 2020 fire season to potentially be prolonged and especially grave, due to the unusually dry months of January and February, one of the driest such periods of any calendar year on record. On March 22, a state of emergency was declared by California Governor Gavin Newsom due to a mass die-off of trees throughout the state, potentially increasing the risk of wildfires [17]. However, throughout March and April, rain began to consistently fall in the state, which alleviated the drought conditions [18]. Despite this, Northern California was still expected to have severe wildfire conditions due to the moderate or severe drought conditions in the area, whereas Central and Southern California were expected to have serious fire conditions later in the year due to the late wet season and precipitation. On June 18, climate scientist Daniel Swain predicted the 2020 Arizona wildfire season was a sign of what was to come in California, due to similar drought and weather conditions between Arizona and Northern California. # Seasonal fire risk The year 2020 was the largest wildfire year recorded in California history, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. From a historical perspective, the average annual acres burned prior to 1850 were probably significantly larger than years since reliable fire records began [2] [5]. Scott Stephens, a professor of fire science at UC Berkeley, estimated that prior to 1850, about 4,500,000 acres (1,800,000 ha) burned yearly, in fires that lasted for months. Activity peaked roughly every 30 years, with up to 11,800,000 acres (4,800,000 ha) burning during peak years. The indigenous peoples of California historically set controlled burns and allowed natural fires to run their course [8] [9] [21]. The peak of the wildfire season usually occurs between July and November when hot, dry winds are most frequent. The wildfire season typically does not end until the first significant rainstorm of autumn arrives, which is usually around October in Northern California, and early November in Southern California. [citation needed]. As wildfire becomes more frequent, the wildland–urban interface has increasingly become more dangerous when it comes to property damage and risk to life. # Causes ## Land development and forest management Scientists believe that, prior to development, California fires regularly burned significantly more acreage than has been seen in recent history. Wildfires have been aggressively suppressed in recent years, resulting in a buildup of fuel, increasing the risk of large uncontrollable fires [23]. There is broad scientific consensus that there should be more controlled burning of forests in California in order to reduce fire risk. A 2020 ProPublica investigation blames a combination of climate change and a history of insufficient controlled burning for the increase in "megafires." A sharp increase in the population and development of fire-prone areas has also contributed to the increase in flammable tinder [23] [9]. ## Climate change Climate change increases the temperature of wildfires in California, the risk for drought, and potentially also the frequency of such events. David Romps, director of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center summarizes the situation as follows: "To cut to the chase: Were the heat wave and the lightning strikes and the dryness of the vegetation affected by global warming? Absolutely yes [25] [10]. Were they made significantly hotter, more numerous, and drier because of global warming? Yes, likely yes, and yes." [11]. Similarly, Friederike Otto, acting director of the University of Oxford Environmental Change Institute states, "There is absolutely no doubt that the extremely high temperatures are higher than they would have been without human-induced climate change. A huge body of attribution literature demonstrates now that climate change is an absolute game-changer when it comes to heat waves, and California won't be the exception." Susan Clark, director of the Sustainability Initiative at the University at Buffalo argues, "This is climate change [26]. This increased intensity and frequency of temperatures and heat waves are part of the projections for the future. [...] There is going to be more morbidity and mortality [from heat.] There are going to be more extremes." [26]. The National Interagency Fire Center's (NFIC) National Interagency Coordination (NICC) reported that monthly outlooks for the entire country will still drive wildfires across the country but especially California. The main drivers through fall and winter seasons will be La Nina, and drought conditions are going to continue through California, causing the wildfires to continue. The shift will start from Northern California to Southern California as precipitation will lessen the impact of wildfires across northern California. [citation needed] [needs update]. ## Arson In August 2020, a suspect was charged by the Monterey County Sheriff with arson relating to the Dolan Fire; however, this has not been officially determined as the cause of the fire. In April 2021, another suspect, already arrested and charged for the murder of a woman, was charged with arson relating to the Markley Fire, one of the wildfires involving in the LNU Lightning Complex fires; according to authorities, the fire was set to cover up the aforementioned murder [27] [28]. Arson has also been suspected as the cause of the Ranch 2 Fire in Los Angeles County [29]. [citation needed]. # Effects A 2023 study found that these wildfires are affecting the California ecosystem and disrupting the habitats. It found that in the 2020 and 2021 fire seasons 58% of the area affected by wildfires occurred in those two seasons since 2012 [30] [33]. These two fires destroyed 30% of the habitat of 50 species as well as 100 species that had 10% of their habitats burn [30] [33]. 5-14% of the species' habitats burned at a "high severity." [30] [33]. # List of wildfires The following is a list of fires that burned more than 1,000 acres (400 ha), or produced significant structural damage or casualties..

The 2020 wildfire season in California was anticipated to be severe due to early dry conditions, with a state of emergency declared in March by Governor Newsom. Despite some alleviation from spring rains, Northern California remained at high risk. The season became the largest in recorded history, with a historical comparison showing that pre-1850, wildfires burned more acreage annually. The peak season is typically July to November, exacerbated by the expansion of the wildland–urban interface. Land development and forest management practices have led to fuel buildup, increasing the risk of large fires. Controlled burns are widely recommended to mitigate this risk. Climate change has also intensified wildfires, with higher temperatures, droughts, and extreme weather events contributing to their frequency and severity. The National Interagency Fire Center highlighted La Nina and ongoing drought as factors driving wildfires, particularly in California. Arson was investigated as a cause for several fires, including the Dolan Fire and the Markley Fire, the latter allegedly set to cover up a murder. A 2023 study revealed significant ecological impacts, with the 2020 and 2021 seasons affecting 58% of the area since 2012, destroying habitats for numerous species, some with high severity burns. The page also includes a list of significant wildfires from the season.

Halloween_Kills

"# Plot\n\nOn October 31, 1978, rookie police officer, Frank Hawkins accidentally shoots his partner(...TRUNCATED)

"\nHalloween Kills, directed by David Gordon Green, is a direct sequel to the 2018 Halloween film an(...TRUNCATED)

Reformed_fundamentalism

"# History and main leaders\n\nThrough the efforts of John G. Machen, the Orthodox Presbyterian Chur(...TRUNCATED)

"\nReformed fundamentalism is a movement within Protestant Christianity emphasizing conservative the(...TRUNCATED)

Bigg_Boss_(Malayalam_season_2)

"# Production\n\nThe season two of the Malayalam-language version of Bigg Boss is produced by Endemo(...TRUNCATED)

"\n\nThe second season of Bigg Boss Malayalam, produced by Endemol Shine India, aired on Asianet wit(...TRUNCATED)

World_Chess_Championship_2021

"# Candidates Tournament\n\nThe challenger was Ian Nepomniachtchi, who qualified by winning the Cand(...TRUNCATED)

"\nIan Nepomniachtchi earned the right to challenge reigning champion Magnus Carlsen in the World Ch(...TRUNCATED)

2020–21_United_States_network_television_schedule

"# Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic\n\nEach of the major television networks in the United States had(...TRUNCATED)

"The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the traditional scheduling and production of televisi(...TRUNCATED)

2021_AFL_season

"# Impact of COVID-19 pandemic\n\nThe season was played during the second year of the COVID-19 pande(...TRUNCATED)

"\n\nThe 2021 AFL season was significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, coinciding with the st(...TRUNCATED)

2022_PDC_World_Darts_Championship

"# Format\n\nAll matches were played as single in, double out; requiring the players to score 501 po(...TRUNCATED)

" The PDC World Darts Championship adhered to a traditional 501 points format, with players required(...TRUNCATED)