Recently, a resident in Shanghai posted online that after traveling to another province for 28 days, she received a call from the neighborhood committee upon returning to Shanghai. The caller asked her if she was “not going back to Shanghai” and mentioned that “big data detected her absence from Shanghai”. Many Shanghai residents subsequently shared similar experiences, with some interviewees mentioning being tracked by the police when traveling across cities.
In the screenshots she shared, it showed that after leaving Shanghai for nearly a month, she received a call from the neighborhood committee upon her return. The caller inquired if she no longer resided in Shanghai and mentioned that the system indicated her long absence from Shanghai. She expressed online that she was simply on a regular business trip, had no criminal record, and had not been subject to any administrative penalties. She expressed confusion as to why she would receive a call from the community after being away for some time. She also mentioned that the neighborhood committee staff referred to “big data detecting her absence from Shanghai,” raising questions about whether residents leaving Shanghai need to report their whereabouts and if personal daily movements have been included in grassroots management.
In the comment section, there were netizens commenting that residential access cards in the community require real-name registration, and if there is no swiping record for a month, the community grid personnel can notice the long absence of residents. However, some residents mentioned that the residential areas they lived in often had security personnel manually opening the gates, not leaving complete access records, and thus did not receive similar calls. Other residents shared that they had received calls from the police station, where after verifying their identity, they were introduced to the location of the nearby police station and told they could contact them anytime.
A public welfare worker in Qingdao, known as Huang Shan, told reporters that during a business trip to Hangzhou, he had just checked into a hotel when he received a call from the local national security office, inquiring about his arrival time in Hangzhou and how many days he planned to stay.
He said, “They asked me when I arrived in Hangzhou and how many days I would stay. I asked them back, do citizens not have the freedom to move? You used big data to locate me, which violates the legitimate rights of citizens. A national security agent said this is for my safety, who would believe such a claim.”
Huang Shan further stated that local public security authorities have been monitoring so-called “sensitive individuals,” sometimes without discretion, which made him very angry. He added, “I am furious. They know where I am wherever I go. Once I left my phone at home and went to Weifang, yet they still found me. Upon returning, my friends said that street cameras have biometric recognition capabilities to match your biological features. It’s like living in a prison.”
In the comment section, many netizens shared similar experiences. One netizen mentioned that communities regularly update the registration of residents’ permanent population, and if residents are away for an extended period, they may be assumed to have moved out of the permanent population, leading to grid personnel contacting them to confirm their identity. Some netizens also linked this to the grassroots mobility control system during the epidemic, such as the personnel flow investigation mechanism established during the Shanghai epidemic in 2022, which is now experiencing similar situations.
A Shanghai resident in Minhang, Mr. Ye, told reporters that when he and his wife went to visit relatives in Ningbo, Zhejiang, they received a call from the local police station right after leaving Shanghai inquiring about their whereabouts.
He said, “In May, my wife and I went to Ningbo to visit her family, and as soon as we left Shanghai, I received a call from the police station on the highway, asking where we were heading. I said we were going back to her hometown, and they reassured us, saying not to go to Beijing and wishing us a pleasant journey. These people are not doing something serious, they are very focused on checking on an individual. When the Beidaihe meeting time arrived, they reminded me a few days ago, saying that Beijing is in chaos lately and advising me not to go to Beidaihe for excitement. I said I’m not a leader, why would I go to cause trouble.”
A lawyer in Shanghai who requested anonymity told reporters that various district neighborhood committees, community grid personnel, and the public security bureau in Shanghai undertake tasks such as population registration, information updates, and grassroots “stability maintenance.” When residents handle civil certificates, relevant departments also review their recent activities, with certificates ultimately issued by the street office. If someone leaves behind “negative records,” their exit and application for notarization will be impacted to varying degrees.