(101 Things About Shanghai) I Know You Can See Me

I have no intention of singling out this city for its very thorough surveillance set up: In fact, I’d say London was worse in the privacy-violation category.

However, this is definitely an aspect of Shanghai that is there, that isn’t always obvious, and that is kinda crucial.

You are being watched. Up there in the leaves of the trees, as you stroll down the street? Three cameras mounted up high, aimed at the sidewalk and the road. Same with most intersections, conspicuously or not. At home and at work, there are little bubble cameras (see left) in the lifts and in the hallways. I always give the guards a happy wave whenever I pass by one or get into the lift. They’re probably pretty bored.  In the metro, there are the bubble cameras as well as the standard ones.

I don’t know what they are looking for. Nothing exciting has ever happened in the metro in the 16 months I’ve been riding it.

I have a feeling that, like the security guards and Ping’an granny militia, this is all for show. An ever-presence of an all-knowing, all-seeing, nearly invisible power. Like the Wizard of Oz or suchlike. It’s really hard to know here.