China: Does God live in the Surveillance Cameras and are all those protesters in Hong Kong in their Facial Recognition System?

Have you ever had that feeling that you are being watched? If you live in some regions of China you are AND you are being graded on your behavior I have been told.

As you know, China is ruled by a Communist government and because it is, religion is not encouraged. We have been there several times because our son and his family live there. We have seen what a country without any major religion looks like.

Inside the Forbidden City in Beijing the Chinese people stand and meditate near rocks or at a place that the ancient Chinese culture considered to be the center of the Universe. There was a Starbucks so if you worshipped coffee that was the place for you. But no sign of a guiding light anywhere.

from Business Insider, April 29, 2018

I was told several years ago that the head of the Communist party was concerned about the lack of moral guidance for the Chinese people. It seems the Chinese people were not behaving in an appropriate way and that worried the leadership. Crime may have been on the rise.

Forbidden knock-off markets were closed down to simply re-emerge somewhere else.

We saw that lack played out in fist fights on the street and freeways in Shanghai. Loud arguments were not that unusual. Pushing was very common and almost frightening in the subway stations.

The fact that the people of China live in crowded conditions as a result of their population causes aggressive behavior I think. Or it may just be the culture. Who knows.

Now our son lives in Shenzhen on the mainland very near Hong Kong. In that city and others, many video surveillance cameras have been installed. And along with that, "facial recognition" for each citizen has been established. My daughter-in-law counted more than ten cameras (maybe 15) at one intersection near their apartment.

So what is the government doing with all those images you ask. Well...here is the story I have been told.

The Chinese citizens (and maybe the expats too) are being graded on their behavior. They are being punished in a variety of ways for bad behavior. At the end of each month their names are put on a public list ordered according to how well they are behaving themselves. In society, people are being shunned or unfriended as it were because of that list. The government has decided that not only are you judged on your behavior but others are judged based on their association with you based on your actions.

The Chinese government claim is that they are using the technology to catch criminal...that is probably true. I actually don't think that fooling around in China is a good idea.

I don't know about you but the whole idea is the scariest thing I have ever heard. But I think that, because the Chinese don't believe in any higher being, they have put God in the surveillance cameras! Wow!

What do you think.

b+

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