Surveillance state Inside China's quest to launch a new era of social control

Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Wall Street Journal reporters Chin and Lin debut with a rigorous and alarming study of how the Chinese Communist Party uses surveillance technology to monitor residents and quell dissent. They trace the roots of this mass surveillance to Mao Zedong's Ministry of Public Security, which employed 300,000 people to monitor their fellow citizens. After Mao's death in 1976, the Communist Party deprioritized social control in order to focus on improving the economy, eventually achieving double-digit annual growth. But as the economy slowed in recent years, draconian mass surveillance returned. In Xinjiang province, home to the country's Uyghur Muslims, every house has a QR code that the police regularly scan to make sure that all residents are registered with the authorities. Uyghurs, an estimated one million of whom have been sent to reeducation camps, are also subject to regular fingerprinting and the taking of blood samples and voice recordings. The authors also visit Hangzhou, home to the tech giant Alibaba, where the police act more like "glorified security guards" and artificial intelligence is used to optimize living conditions. Throughout, Chin and Lin expose the role of U.S. tech companies in developing China's surveillance tools and draw vivid profiles of Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Uyghur rights activists, and others. This wide-ranging and deeply informed study offers crucial insights into the rising threat of digital surveillance. (Sept.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

For years, China's Communist Party has invested in new technologies to surveil and control its population. Chin and Lin (both of the Wall Street Journal) interviewed over 150 people in 14 countries to explore the history of this development, along with how it has manifested in different regions of the country. The story begins in Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China with a large Muslim Uyghur population, where authorities have pioneered the use of extreme data collection and surveillance tactics. There, large numbers of people have been detained in "re-education" camps. Not all of these technologies are employed for sinister motives, as the party also benefits from improving the lives of citizens. For example, ambulance drivers in Hangzhou have the ability to change the pattern of traffic lights to speed up their response time. The authors also discuss how China has exported these technologies to bolster authoritarian regimes abroad. VERDICT Essential reading for those interested in modern China. Readers curious about the various ways that President Xi has expanded his power should also consider Kai Strittmatter's We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State.--Joshua Wallace

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A study of the Chinese government's sweeping surveillance program. Chin and Lin, veteran reporters on China for the Wall Street Journal and other outlets, have spent enough time in the country to effectively trace the development of an extraordinary surveillance system, a defining feature of the Xi Jinping era. It began in Xinjiang province, supposedly to keep track of Uyghur dissidents, but the Communist Party leaders quickly saw the broader potential. Featuring a nationwide network of cameras feeding into a massive database, the program connects with online shopping giants such as Alibaba and Tencent, and it also extends to internet usage and mobile phones. Using this data, Chinese authorities established an algorithm-based "social credit system," under which "responsible" people could be rewarded while others could be monitored and, if necessary, punished. "By solving social problems before they occur and quashing dissent before it spills out into the streets," write the authors, [the Party] believes it can strangle opposition in the crib." Another crucial piece is facial recognition software, and the government is reportedly working on "emotion recognition" software, aiming to pick up individuals who have not done anything wrong but might think about it in the future. "China's leaders," write the authors, "wanted to redefine government using the same tools that Google, Facebook and Amazon had used to remake capitalism….They could engineer away dissent. China would have optimization." Party officials understand that most citizens will trade privacy for order. Worryingly, the system is now being exported around the world, with aspects of it appearing in India, Uganda, and Singapore. Occasionally, the authors wander away from their main theme, but they paint a grim, disturbing portrait that deserves close scrutiny, especially as the technology becomes more precise and easier to deploy. While tech giants in the U.S. "exploit this technology for profit…the Communist Party has adopted it as a means to maintain power." The underside of digital technology on full, frightening display. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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