Inside China Tech: How facial recognition technology facilitates China’s surveillance

  • State surveillance camera makers largely benefited from the rise in demand for the technology after 9/11 terror attacks

Sarah Daiin BeijingandChua Kong Hoin Hong Kong
Surveillance cameras mounted on a lamp post in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Photo: AP

China had about 176 million surveillance cameras in operation as of 2016. By 2022, the number is expected to reach 2.76 billion, in a country with a population of 1.4 billion, according to IDC, a market intelligence company.

The technology, which uses biometric computer applications to automatically identify an individual from a database of digital images, is already being deployed at US airports.

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