01-05-2025
Big Brother is always watching in dystopian megacity bigger than Scotland
Big Brother is not just watching in the Chinese megacity of Chongqing – he is everywhere, all at once.
Boasting a population of 30 million people, and stretching across 31,815 square miles, it is one of the largest cities in the world, and even bigger than entire countries – like Scotland.
What also sets the former wartime capital of China, during World War II,apart is the sprawling CCTV network that operates inside.
Stepping inside Chongqing, every street, alleyway and apartment building is watched by cameras.
The way it works is that neighbourhoods are divided into a grid-like pattern with 15-20 households per square.
Each grid has a monitor which reports back on residents' activities to local committees.
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A report to the Chinese National People's Congress from earlier in March offers a glimpse of how this system works and how Chinese authorities are ramping up surveillance even further.
It said another 27,900 surveillance cameras alongside 245 sensors were installed as part of the comprehensive 'grid' surveillance, Radio Free Asia reported.
Cities in China are under the heaviest surveillance system in the world, with estimated 626 million cameras to 1.43 billion people.
But Chongqing beats even science and technology hubs like Beijing and Shanghai.
It is all part of a sophisticated mass surveillance project, conducted by the Chinese government through Internet surveillance, CCTV and through other digital technologies.
Another element of what makes Chongqing so dystopian is the way the city is set up.
Its mountainous geography has forced architects to utilise vertical space and create a multi-layered urban structure.
Buildings and infrastructure are integrated into this terrain, with roads and metro lines erected above ground or tunneled through slopes and even residential skyscrapers, also to maximise space.
This has resulted in a '5D city' where different levels of infrastructure are interconnected even high up in the sky. More Trending
The city also boasts 298 skyscrapers over 100 metres tall and 26 buildings exceeding 200 metres, ranking 15th worldwide for the number of skyscrapers and sixth in mainland China.
To put that into context, there are currently just 12 towers in London that exceed 200m.
For the growing number of tourists, the 5D city' is a fascinating phenomenon, but for residents – particularly the working class who live on the lower levels of Chongqing – it means that sunlight has become luxury.
The megacity is also perpetually grey, enshrouded by a thick layer of fog for over 100 days of the year – even before China's industrial explosion – forcing residents to live in the dark for at least a third of the year.
Based on the number of cameras per 1,000 people, these cities are the top 10 most surveilled in the world, according to 2023 analysis by UK-based technology research firm Comparitech. Cities in China – 626 million cameras to 1.43 billion people = 439.07 cameras per 1,000 people Hyderabad, India – 900,000 cameras for 10,801,163 people = 83.32 cameras per 1,000 people Indore, India – 200,000 cameras per 3,302,077 people = 60.57 cameras per 1,000 people Delhi, India – 449,934 cameras for 22,547,000 people = 19.96 cameras per 1,000 people Singapore, Singapore – 109,072 cameras for 6,080,859 people = 17.94 cameras per 1,000 people Moscow, Russia – 214,000 cameras for 12,680,389 people = 16.88 cameras per 1,000 people Baghdad, Iraq – 120,000 cameras for 7,711,305 people = 15.56 cameras per 1,000 people Seoul, South Korea – 144,513 cameras for 9,988,049 people = 14.47 cameras per 1,000 people St Petersburg, Russia – 75,000 cameras for 5,561,294 people = 13.49 cameras per 1,000 people London, England – 127,423 cameras for 9,648,110 people = 13.21 cameras per 1,000 people
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