Living with Digital Surveillance in China

‘Surveillance operated by the Chinese Social Credit system has attracted much criticism from Western countries but few trouble to discover how Chinese people themselves understand and respond to surveillance. Living with Digital Surveillance engages directly, through vivid interviews, with Chinese citizens in three cities, showing how their surveillance imaginaries display distinctive features. A sensitive and illuminating contribution to our understanding of both Chinese and surveillance studies.’ Prof. David Lyon, Queen's University, Canada ‘Living with Digital Surveillance in China is an essential resource for anyone interested in digital surveillance in China. It provides insightful analysis that will help students, scholars and practitioners better understand how authorities in China use digital technologies for social governance and how Chinese citizens live with it. The book draws from multiple literatures and rich fieldwork to shed light on citizens’ attitudes, behavior, and narratives regarding digital surveillance. It is an important reminder that surveillance practices must be analyzed within a country’s historical, socioeconomic and political context. This lively book is a must-read for the times we live in.’ Prof. Genia Kostka, Institute for Chinese Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany ‘Surveillance has become ever more a fact of daily life in China, and a necessary object of study to understand the evolving ways in which the Communist Party of China governs society. However, lacking from view has been the way in which Chinese individuals see and engage with this surveillance state. In Living with Digital Surveillance in China, Ariane Ollier-Malaterre paints a rich and complex picture that will be of interest to China scholars and surveillance specialists in equal measure.’ Prof. Rogier Creemers, Modern Chinese Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands ‘Amidst persistent misunderstandings of China’s social credit systems, Living with Digital Surveillance in China provides a much needed, empirically grounded, and innovative account of Chinese citizens’ narratives of technology and surveillance as well as their coping strategies. Ollier-Malaterre carefully documents how certain hegemonic ideas of techno-nationalism such as the identity narrative of national humiliation and technological solutionism are reproduced and negotiated in everyday life, shaping citizens’ surveillance imaginaries. This book will be a valuable read for those who are interested in critical approaches to surveillance studies that challenge Eurocentric epistemology and center the agency and lived lives of communities beyond the West.’ Prof. Chenchen Zhang, Durham University, UK