The Chinese government has been caught misusing facial recognition technology by installing a large number of surveillance cameras across the country to monitor the behavior and activities of every citizen. In one village in Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province, a pole was found to be equipped with 84 surveillance cameras, a sight that has become increasingly common in recent years.
According to a report by China’s Jiemu News, a recent video posted by a netizen who was touring through Caoxia Village in Wanlongshan Township, Pingxiang City showed a pole filled with surveillance cameras. Curious, the netizen counted the number of cameras on the pole and discovered a total of 84 surveillance cameras.
The video shared by the netizen revealed a pole standing along the village road with multiple rows of surveillance cameras attached, pointing in various directions with a distribution box at the base of the pole.
On September 19th, a local business owner in Caoxia Village confirmed the existence of a pole filled with surveillance devices in the village but expressed uncertainty about the reason behind it.
A village official from Caoxia Village claimed that the surveillance devices shown in the video were designed and installed by a local camping site, which has become a popular check-in spot in recent years. The official stated that only one surveillance camera out of the 84 is functional, with the rest being non-operational and purely decorative.
Mr. Zhong, the person in charge of the camping site, revealed that the surveillance pole was part of their designed check-in spot and has been in place for two to three years.
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has been developing big data, the SkyNet project, facial recognition, under the pretext of “reducing crime rates.” However, netizens describe these inventions and creations as tools for controlling and monitoring the public.
In April this year, another netizen disclosed that at the intersection of Helong River Middle Road and Shanhe Road in Chengyang District, Qingdao City, several dozen surveillance cameras were installed on the traffic light crossbar.
The Chengyang Public Security Bureau of Qingdao City later confirmed the situation by stating that the crossbar located at the intersection of Helong River Middle Road and Shanhe Road had a total of 18 surveillance cameras and 24 supplementary lighting devices installed on two poles. However, due to aging and malfunctioning equipment, 12 surveillance cameras and 16 supplementary lighting devices were inactive but not removed promptly.
Last year, a resident of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, exposed the presence of over twenty surveillance cameras on a crossbar at a certain intersection, questioning the purpose behind it.
In February 2023, a junction in Chongqing was adorned with 78 surveillance cameras, sparking debates. Netizens shared online posts revealing a plethora of surveillance cameras densely covering an electricity pole at a certain intersection, likening it to a row of sparrows at first glance. The traffic police clarified that the new and old equipment was undergoing testing and trial runs, and the old devices had been dismantled.
The total number of surveillance cameras installed across China has not been officially disclosed by the Communist Party. However, market research institutions estimated in reports from 2019 to 2022 that the quantity of public and commercial surveillance cameras in China ranged from 600 million to 700 million, making it one of the world’s largest video surveillance networks.
With the continuous expansion of China’s “SkyNet project” (urban public safety network) and the “Bright Project” (video surveillance system covering rural areas), the total number of surveillance cameras in the country is believed to have exceeded 700 million.