Mass surveillance in China


Mass surveillance in the People's Republic of China is the network of monitoring systems used by the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese government to monitor Chinese citizens. China maintains the largest and most sophisticated mass surveillance system in the world. It is primarily conducted through the government, although corporate surveillance in connection with the CCP and Chinese government also has been reported. China monitors its citizens through Internet surveillance, camera surveillance, and through other digital technologies. The surveillance has become increasingly widespread and grown in sophistication under General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping's administration.

Background

Mass surveillance has significantly expanded under the PRC Cybersecurity Law and with the help of local companies like Tencent, Dahua Technology, Hikvision, SenseTime, ByteDance, Megvii, Yitu Technology, Huawei and ZTE, among many others. As of 2019, it is estimated that 200 million monitoring CCTV cameras of the "Skynet" system have been put to use in mainland China, four times the number of surveillance cameras in the United States. By 2020, the number of surveillance cameras in mainland China was expected to reach 626 million. As of August 2023, the country had over 700 million surveillance cameras according to online data, one lens for every two citizens. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the implementation of mass surveillance as it has provided a plausible pretext to do so.

History

Origin

Mass surveillance in China emerged in the Maoist era after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Mao invented this mechanism of control that encompassed the entire nation and its people in order to strengthen his power in the newly founded government and detect potential threats to the legitimacy of the CCP and its policies. In the early years, when technology was relatively undeveloped in China, mass surveillance was accomplished through disseminating information by word of mouth. Chinese people kept a watchful eye on one another and reported inappropriate behaviors that infringed upon the dominant social ideals of the time. In the 21st century, mass surveillance has become of part of the CCP's goal of "stability maintenance" in order to detect and prevent protest and dissent in the country.

21st century

In 2005, the Chinese government created a mass surveillance system called Skynet. The government revealed Skynet's existence in 2013, by which time the network included over 20 million cameras. In addition to monitoring the general public, cameras were installed outside mosques in the Xinjiang region, temples in Tibet, and the homes of dissidents. Feminists and LGBT rights groups are subject to increased scrutiny.
In 2017, the Chinese government encouraged the use of various mobile phone apps as part of a broader surveillance push. Local regulators launched mobile apps for national security purposes and to allow citizens to report violations.
As of 2018, the most notable surveillance mechanisms were mass camera surveillance on the streets, Internet surveillance, and newly invented surveillance methods based on social credit and identity.
As of 2018, the Chinese central government had also adopted facial recognition technology, surveillance drones, robot police, and big data collection targeting online social media platforms to monitor its citizens.
In 2019, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden said China's mass surveillance mechanisms and machinery of private communications was "utterly mind-boggling". As of 2019, it was estimated that 200 million monitoring CCTV cameras of the "Skynet" system had been put to use in mainland China, four times as many as the surveillance cameras in the United States. State media in China claim that Skynet is the largest video surveillance system in the world, utilizing facial recognition technology and big data analysis. In 2019, Comparitech reported that 8 out of the 10 most monitored cities in the world are in China, with Chongqing, Shenzhen and Shanghai being the world's top 3. In 2019, China supplied surveillance technology to most of the world, and positioned the country in control over the mass surveillance industry.
According to industry researcher IHS Markit, at the end of 2019, there were 770 million surveillance cameras in the world, with approximately 415.8 million of them located in China. If these trends continue, by the end of 2021 there will be about 1 billion in the world and 540 million in China. The government says this prevents crime, but citizens worry that their data and privacy could be compromised. In late October 2020, Deng Yufeng, an artist, used performance art to highlight how difficult it is to dodge the view of security cameras.
In September 2025, the Associated Press reported that more than a dozen U.S. tech companies had enabled China's mass surveillance by supplying technology to Chinese police and government entities. The AP reported that the companies – including Silicon Valley heavyweights like IBM, Intel, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Dell – sold such technology to China despite having reason to know it would be used to target religious and ethnic minorities. The AP reported that IBM, in particular, worked with a Chinese company, Huadi, to design China's “Golden Shield” which allows China to censor the internet and repress dissidents.

Timeline

  • In 2011, the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission proposed a mobile phone tracking program, to be called the Information Platform of Real-time Citizen Movement, which was ostensibly intended to ease traffic flow on the city's streets.
  • In the four years up to 2012, 100,000 crimes had reportedly been solved with the aid of surveillance cameras in Guangdong, according to officials. However, a critic said that "one of the most important purposes of such a smart surveillance system is to crack down on social unrest triggered by petitioners and dissidents".
  • In 2013, the government saw the severe atmospheric pollution in Chinese cities as a security threat because the closed-circuit television cameras were rendered useless. In December 2013, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology asked China Telecom, a major landline and mobile telephone company, to implement a real name registration scheme.
  • In 2014, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology followed with a request to regulate the dissemination of objectionable information over the network. Also in 2014, China used a government-backed brain and emotional surveillance project on an unprecedented scale in factories, public transport, state-owned companies and the military.
  • In January 2014, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television announced that users who wished to upload videos to Chinese websites would be required to use their real names. The agency explained that the requirement was meant to prevent vulgar content, base art forms, exaggerated violence and sexual content in Internet video having a negative effect on society.
  • According to an official document released in 2015, the Chinese government aimed to build a nationwide video surveillance network by 2020 to ensure public security, which will be omnipresent, fully networked, working all the time, and fully controllable.
  • In 2016, China introduced a cybersecurity law requiring Internet companies to store all network logs for at least six months and to store all personal data and critical information within mainland China. Also in 2016, China deployed AnBot Police Robot equipped with stun weapons and facial recognition cameras to start patrolling the Shenzhen airport.
  • In 2018, Chinese law enforcement officials were equipped with facial recognition Smartglasses in order to apprehend criminals, especially drug smugglers. The technology was originally adopted at the 2017 Qingdao International Beer Festival. With its assistance, the police claimed to have captured many criminals, including 25 fugitives, 19 drug smugglers, and 37 plagiarists. Also in 2018, Chinese authorities admitted for the first time that they could access WeChat users' deleted messages without their permission. The Chaohu City Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission retrieved a suspect's entire conversation history that had already been deleted in one incident.
  • In March 2019, China announced a regulation on small video apps to help prevent teenagers' Internet addiction disorder. It allows related apps to forcibly trigger "teenager mode" by tracing users' location and analyzing their behavior. It was used in all small video apps by June 2019. In 2019, China announced that the third generation of Resident Identity Cards will be able to trace locations. Blood information will also be collected and recorded in the card.
  • In 2020, Chinese law enforcement officials wore "smart helmets" equipped with AI-powered infrared cameras to detect pedestrians' temperature amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The smart helmets used by the Chinese police also have facial recognition capabilities, license plate recognition and the ability to scan QR codes.
  • The Chinese Communist Party implemented a grid system to ensure systematic surveillance of its citizens. Neighborhoods and regions have been divided into grids. Residents of the grids have been recruited to go door to door, inspecting the living spaces in houses and reporting their findings to authorities. The organization of these inspections allows for more detailed searches. The monitors' task is to visit houses regularly and collect information on people, places, events, objects and emotions. In particular, they inspect computers for sites visited and content viewed. The grid workers are members or supporters of the CCP.
  • In September 2024 border police in northeastern China have been assigned quotas to identify and expel undocumented migrants, impacting North Korean defectors' chances of evasion. According to official documents and sources, China has enhanced its border surveillance, including new deportation centers, facial-recognition cameras, and increased boat patrols along its 1,400-kilometre border with North Korea.