Bridging policy and practice: the mediating role of China’s crisis translation scholarship in the 2020 public health response

To address the persistent gap between policy design and on-the-ground implementation across diverse linguistic and cultural settings, this paper proposes the Policy–Scholarship–Practice (PSP) continuum as an integrated methodological framework. The continuum foregrounds scholarship as the key mediating force that enables dynamic interaction among policy formulation, academic inquiry, and practical execution. Using China’s crisis translation responses during the 2020 public health emergency as a case study, the paper analyzes the mechanisms through which these interactions unfold. The findings show that policy initiatives significantly stimulated the development of Emergency Language Services (ELS) research—mirroring trends in global Crisis Translation studies—and that this scholarly expansion subsequently contributed to more targeted and operational policy interventions at both national and local levels. Scholars have also played an active translational role by coordinating, organizing, and participating in multi-level crisis translation projects and talent training programs, thereby enhancing the country’s linguistic preparedness for emergencies. However, the feedback loop from practice back to scholarship remains underdeveloped, constrained by entrenched paradigms and utilitarian incentives. The evolution of crisis translation in China thus demonstrates both the value of cross-stakeholder collaboration and the indispensable role of scholarship in bridging the policy–practice divide, highlighting how academic insights can materially shape the implementation and effectiveness of crisis translation interventions.