ChinaFile’s research for “State of Surveillance” relied primarily on a dataset comprising some 76,000 procurement notices that central and local government offices posted for goods and services related to surveillance. This article explains how we arrived at that dataset—how we selected notices for inclusion, as well as how we processed and sifted through them in order to draw analytical conclusions.
Photographer Jia Yanan traveled to Kathmandu in mid-February to participate in a photo workshop. A month later, when rumor had it that Kathmandu was entering a citywide lockdown, she made the decision to stay longer in order to finish her photo project. Little did she know that she’d spend four more months there, as her flights back to China were cancelled eight times. Friendships Jia made with others who were also stranded and volunteering in a makeshift soup kitchen gave her comfort and purpose through the unprecedented lockdown.
In early 2019, a homeless man from Shanghai took the Chinese Internet by storm. Shen Wei, a 53-year-old who had been sleeping on the streets for decades, is well-versed in Chinese classics and philosophy, and videos of him sharing his wisdom were viewed millions of times. The Internet dubbed him “The Wandering Master,” and Shen became inundated with people asking for a photo or simply taking videos of him with their phones. His fame has not only garnered him loyal fans but also Internet vultures eager to profit off of him.
Western Beijing’s centuries-long history of coal mining came to a full stop in September. Over the last two decades, hundreds of coal mines of various sizes gradually ceased operations as city planners re-developed Mentougou district for environmental conservation. Established in 1958, the Datai Coal Mine, which once employed 8,000 workers during its peak in the 1980s, was the last coal mine in Beijing.
Since June, provinces along the Yangtze River have been battered by the worst floods in the country in decades. Precipitation in the middle and lower Yangtze regions has been the highest since 1961. By July 28, the floods had left more than 150 dead or missing and 3.7 million people displaced.
When demand for medical-grade masks ramped up this Spring, thousands of speculative manufacturers and traders pivoted to the melt-blown fabric sector, an essential material for the masks, hoping to capitalize on the face mask bonanza. The market quickly became oversaturated, driving prices down and making inferior-quality products obsolete. Two factory owners from Zhejiang province, identified as Ms. Jin and Ms.
For the graduating class of 2020, what was supposed to be a season of celebration turned quickly to disappointment. School reopenings were repeatedly delayed, and many college students had to complete the last few months of their studies online. In this essay, China Youth Daily asked students from several universities across China to document their own graduations. Some schools orchestrated social-distance commencements, while others opted for streaming their ceremonies entirely online.
In Guangzhou, China’s cloth production and trading hub, one third of garment workers come from Hubei, the province hit hardest by COVID-19. In late March and early April, as the pandemic came under control in China and domestic travel restrictions eased, garment workers from Hubei rushed back to Guangzhou, only to find business had shrunk as both demand and prices have dramatically dropped.
