Named One of the best books of 2022 by New Statesman, Prospect Magazine, kqed, the china project

3D image of the book SURVEILLANCE STATE

Surveillance State tells the gripping story of the Chinese Communist Party’s pursuit of a new kind of political control: shaping the will of the people through the sophisticated — and often brutal — harnessing of data.

Josh Chin and Liza Lin take you on a journey through the new world China is building within its borders, and beyond. Telling harrowing stories of the people and families affected by the Party’s ambitions, the book reveals a future that is already under way — a new society engineered around the power of digital surveillance.

Praise for SURVEILLANCE STATE

“Josh Chin and Liza Lin have given us a truly groundbreaking investigation of China’s embrace of digital surveillance. ...They will open your eyes to the astonishing intersection of data, politics, and the human body. Anyone who cares about the future of technology, of China, or of free will cannot afford to miss this.””
— Evan Osnos, The New Yorker
“Surveillance technologies, both inside China and around the world, are creating an alternative to the liberal order far more swiftly than most people believe. This book gives us a vital glimpse into what might replace it.’”
— Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy
“[A] rigorous and alarming study of how the Chinese Communist Party uses surveillance technology to monitor residents and quell dissent.…This wide-ranging and deeply informed study offers crucial insights into the rising threat of digital surveillance.””
— Publisher's Weekly
“The underside of digital technology on full, frightening display.””
— Kirkus Reviews
Portrait of a smiling half-Chinese man in his mid-40s with short graying hair and glasses

about the author

Josh Chin is deputy China bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal. He previously covered politics and tech in China as a reporter with the newspaper for more than a decade. He led an investigative team that won the Gerald Loeb Award for international reporting in 2018 for a series exposing the Chinese government’s pioneering experiments with digital surveillance. He was named a National Fellow at New America in 2020 and is a recipient of the Dan Bolles Medal, awarded to investigative journalists who have exhibited courage in the face of intimidation.

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