With facial recognition and other high-tech equipment monitoring their every move, ordinary people are starting to feel that they live in a prisonlike reality

Residents in the Uyghur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang have been living under the CCP’s “digital despotism” for quite some time, as everything they do is captured by countless surveillance cameras, and they need to scan their faces or IDs to enter places of worship or even their homes.

As the Xinjiang-style surveillance is spreading rapidly across other regions of China, now also targeting the Han population, the whole country will likely soon be turned into a giant prison.

In June, the Public Security Bureau of a locality in the southeastern province of Jiangxi installed 195 surveillance cameras in a residential compound under its jurisdiction.

People cannot enter unless they scan their face and ID card. If someone scans their face while wearing glasses or a face mask, they are denied entrance... If ID information and facial recognition don’t match, the machine sends data to the police. If persons “blacklisted” by the state scan their faces or ID cards, the Public Security Bureau is automatically notified, and the police automatically arrive to arrest them.

Facial images and ID information remain in the system after the first scan, and people continue to be surveilled no matter where they go.

“I am monitored every day when I scan my face leaving and returning home. I always feel as if a person is watching me. It’s very stifling,” said a woman who lives in the residential complex.

It is not only residents who have to scan their faces, but their guests also have to go through the same procedure, the system linking their information with the resident whom they visit.

“This is a serious human rights violation! By installing these high-tech facial recognition systems, the CCP is tying a rope around our necks and controlling us like we’re animals. This is so evil and so ridiculous!”

It is expected that facial recognition systems will be fully operational in 59 public housing projects run by the Beijing Municipal Guaranteed Housing Center until the end of October, adding information on more people to the database.

The mass surveillance is especially detrimental to dissidents, religious group members, and others who have been blacklisted by the government, because information about them may help authorities to persecute and arrest them.
Since most house churches have set up meeting venues in rental houses or the homes of Christians, under high-tech surveillance, it has become even more difficult and dangerous for them to assemble.

“If we want to enter a residential area to attend a gathering or visit fellow believers, we are often questioned about whom we’re visiting, how long we’re staying, and what we’re doing. Security guards will possess all this information, and as soon as one of us is arrested, they will know who has visited him or her and with whom he or she held gatherings together,” said a house church Christian, adding that he feels suffocated by the increasingly tight surveillance.

Source: https://bitterwinter.org/china-is-suffocating-citizens-with-increasing-surveillance/?fbclid=IwAR3V9S9T6YeEaXj3TeMJEH7p7seLcMhpZp5Sv7Ot4RYhpAhCOOhfIDezGlI

#Xinjing
#religion
#BigBrotherChina
#ChinaIsWatching

#OpinionArticle

Provincial authorities ordered to eradicate crosses “no matter what,” and in four months, many state-run Protestant churches were left without them by Lu An

//From January to April, crosses were removed from at least 250 Three-Self churches in Lu’an, Ma’anshan, Huaibei, and other cities in the eastern province of Anhui. A local believer revealed that in November and December last year, crosses were removed from 22 Three-Self churches in Bozhou, Huaibei, and two other cities.

//A congregation member told Bitter Winter that local officials claimed that the cross-removal campaign was being implemented in line with a national policy, which requires to eliminate all Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, and other religious symbols. Such orders are being passed down from one government level to another, and every cross in Anhui will be eradicated eventually, the believer added.

//In mid-April, officials from the county’s United Front Work Department and other government institutions removed crosses from all the 33 Three-Self churches in the county. As the cross of the largest church in the county was being removed, believers attempted to save it. Still, the demolition proceeded as planned because local officials feared repercussions from higher authorities for disobeying their orders.

//A congregation member told Bitter Winter that local government officials declared at the end of last year that because of the animosity between the United States and China, the government fears that Christians, whose number is growing in China, will “unite with foreigners against the state.”

Full article: Bitter Winter, (09-Jun)

#China #Church #CrossesRemoved #Religion

#Newspaper #Church

Sheng Kung Hui Holy Trinity Cathedral prays for introducing medical staff from mainland China, suddenly deletes content about praying for National Security Law

(1 Aug) Sheng Kung Hui Holy Trinity Cathedral, in its latest instalment of the weekly magazine “9th Day of the Pentecost”, originally had included prayer items to “pray that the national security law can bring a prosperous and stable future to Hong Kong, pray for the steady enforcements despite the difficulties, and pray for the successful implementation of such laws in the areas of politics, economics, legal aspects and people’s livelihood” in the “Social, country and the world” section of its weekly prayer topics. However, the aforementioned content was found deleted in the online version of the magazine.

In addition, although there has been heated debates around whether Hong Kong should introduce medical staff from mainland China to assist in dealing with the virus, in the latest weekly prayer topics of the Cathedral, the controversial topic “pray for the high feasibility for Hong Kong to introduce excellent mainland doctors to combat the virus along with local doctors” still remains .

Source: Apple Daily
Translated by: Hong Kong Echo

#ShengKungHui #MedicalStaff #NationalSecurityLaw #Religion

#Education #StateIdeology
Religious Textbooks in Hong Kong Demand Students for Patriotism: "God Loves Me as a Chinese"

The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong run 17 kindergartens, 56 primary schools and 27 secondary schools in Hong Kong.

The teaching materials, “Starlight Series”, used by these kindergartens and primary schools sparked controversies.

In these textbooks, the lesson of nationality comes earlier than knowledge about the church, the religious teaching and the meaning of Christmas.

See images:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/25506

For example, the first chapter of the textbook for upper kindergarten is called “God loves Chinese”. The content emphasises Chinese nationality.

In the notes to parents, the teaching material encourages parents to let their children learn more Chinese culture. The message aims to reinforce the sense of belonging among young children and their identification with Chinese through God.

Besides emphasising the Chinese identity, the textbook claims that God gave humankind Chinese culture, and calls for patriotism to thank God. Students are taught to uphold "harmony".

Prayers in the textbook, moreover, express graditude to God for letting the readers be born as Chinese and the love to the people and the nation.

A theology researcher stated that God hasn’t expressed any preferences and love to any countries and didn’t recommend Catholic Dioceses to get too close to the regime.

Source: Stand News #Sept14
https://bit.ly/3ivR3eK

#StarlightSeries #TextBook
#BrainWashing #CatholicDioceses #Religion #Nationalization

Human Right Watch report: Crimes against humanity are occurring in Xinjiang, “Using UN investigations” and advocating various governments to sanction and prosecute Chinese officials 
 
Human Right Watch announced a new report, which stated the suppression from Chinese government targets Uyghurs in Xinjiang and other Turkic Muslims. It includes mass detention, surveillance, restrictions on migration, obliteration of their culture and religion, those are already constituting a “crime against humanity” in international law. Human Right Watch urged United Nations establishes investigation committee, investigating allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang. Also, it urged governments and enterprises in each country suppress to China, claimed to Chinese government to stop violating human rights, assisting in prosecuting crimes against humanity of sanctioning Chinese officials. 
 
Human Right Watch announced new report which wrote with International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic on Monday in United States (19April). It stated according to investigations and reports from Human Right Watch, other human right organisations, media and rights protection group, Chinese government’s suppression of the Turkic Muslim population in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region. In the recent years it reaches unprecedented levels, including randomly arrested citizens; the courts severely sentenced without process, torture, and abuse; cultural and political indoctrination; forced labour; large-scale surveillance; restrictions on migration; arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances; obliteration of their culture and religion; and separation of families.  
 
Source: Stand News #Apr20

 https://bit.ly/3bm8j4O
 
#HumanRightWatch #Xinjiang #China #HumanRights #Investigation #ChineseOfficials #Uyghurs #Muslims #Sanctions #Religion #Suppression #Reports