Ramaswami: Suranjana Roy Bhattacharya 28 Mar 2020 China COVID Fight Medical workers pose for photos after seeing cured patients off at the Wuchang temporary hospital in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 10, 2020. - Xinhua They were as swift as kung fu fighters, as strong as fiery dragons. As China emerges out of the COVID-19 crisis and India goes under a confused state of lockdown, it is important to understand the diverse, multi-pronged and holistic ways in which Beijing's policymakers handled, what turned into, a global pandemic. Although China's management of the disease that emerged in the city of Wuhan in late December 2019, has been criticised severely in the Western media, there may be some valuable lessons for Indian administrators here. On the national stage, China was able to undertake gigantic mobilisation of men and machinery to build entire hospitals in record time. It unleashed the strength of its state-owned enterprises, created policy and administrative frameworks where private companies - from AI (artificial intelligence) start-ups to hosiery units -- stepped in to play crucial roles. At the micro level, China raised an army of volunteers and professionals to ensure that citizens observe lockdown norms, maintain home quarantine, while keeping them supplied with food and essentials. Despite initial blunders and public anger, the Chinese government kept moving swiftly in a 360 degree manner that finally brought COVID-19 under control. In context of India dealing with a humongous tragedy resulting from an abrupt, blanket national lockdown, it may be fruitful to examine some of the policy and logistical measures China took to keep 1.4 billion people safe. Lockdown: One by One It is important to remember that the entire country did not go under lockdown at the stroke of midnight. Instead, it was the city of Wuhan, capital of landlocked Hubei province in central China with a population of 11 million, which was the first to face a total and strict lockdown from January 23. As is common knowledge now, the virus first emerged in this city in late December and was tracked down after dozens of people were observed to be contracting pneumonia from an unknown source. On January 11, China confirmed the first novel coronavirus death of a 61-year-old man who had visited the Wuhan live animals market; it took them another 12 days to put in place aggressive containment measures -- but only for a single city. From January 23, the government barred people from leaving or entering Wuhan. Initially, trains and flights to the city were cancelled and stringently monitored, checkpoints were set up on roads leading into the province. Next, public transportation systems in areas surrounding Wuhan went under lockdown and traveling restriction extended to the rest of Hubei province. One by one, 15 cities were shut down, affecting more than 50 million people.