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While foreign pundits have alternatively blamed and praised the Chinese government’s handling of the COVID-19 virus, little is known about how citizens within China understand this performance. This article considers how satisfied Chinese citizens are with their government’s performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. It first considers the impact of authoritarian control, political culture, and/or actual government performance on citizen satisfaction. Then, it tests the consequences of satisfaction and specifically whether citizen satisfaction leads to greater trust. Analyzing data from the first post-COVID survey of its kind (n = 19,816) conducted from April 22 to 28 April 2020, the authors find that Chinese citizens have an overall high level of satisfaction, but that this satisfaction drops with each lower level of government. Further, authoritarian control, political culture, and awareness of government performance all contribute to citizen satisfaction and this in turn, has enhanced public support for the Chinese government.

Neighborhoods have begun to play an increasingly prominent role in shaping mental health during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic because residents are spending more time at home and in their immediate neighborhoods. Using data collected from 3,031 urban residents during the COVID-19 lockdown of Wuhan, China’s earliest epicenter, this study investigates the relationship between neighborhoods’ social infrastructure and residents’ mental distress. Results of structural equation modeling estimation reveal that services provided by urban residents’ committees (cheng shi ju wei hui) and volunteer groups significantly decrease the adverse impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on residents’ mental health in a Chinese context, and social cohesion is one of the mechanisms underpinning this influence. Residents’ committees and volunteer groups are found to increase their support when neighborhoods are facing an escalated level of COVID-19 risk. The residents who receive more support from their neighborhood organizations perceive a higher level of social cohesion and experience less mental distress. The findings suggest that mobilizing neighborhoods’ organizational resources and fostering social cohesion are crucial strategies to minimizing residents’ mental distress during COVID-19 pandemic. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.