China's relentless surveillance has taught people to perform obedience and loyalty, while keeping their beliefs hidden. This creates a dilemma for the ruling Communist Party: repression distorts the very information the government needs to understand society.
WASHINGTON, DC—China’s surveillance state reaches into the most banal corners of life. At a garden in Yangzhou, visitors must scan their faces to receive toilet paper; the dispenser remembers them and refuses to provide a second serving. In Shenzhen, the police use facial-recognition technology to catch jaywalkers, then send penalties to scofflaws’ phones and notify their employers. The scrutiny is not limited to public spaces. For China-registered users, WeChat messages and images are automatically screened. One human-rights lawyer recalled that police monitored his WeChat exchanges before detaining and torturing him.