China is a surveillance state. Every public action of the Chinese people, whether online or offline, is monitored by the government using face cameras and surveillance cameras extensively. In one decade–between 2010 and 2019–orders for face recognition and surveillance cameras increased by 1900 per cent. Chongqing is the most surveilled city, with a camera for every 5.9 citizens.
Interestingly, China also happens to be the country where cameras first came into being–almost 2500 years ago. “The oldest known record of a camera obscura,” writes the photographer and journalist Paul David Smith, “comes from a Han Chinese philosopher Mozi, who can be traced to 470 to 391 B.C. While this is not the date that marks the official invention of the cameras we know today, it is clear now why the history of cameras is longer than photography itself as it started before 391 B.C!”
Mozi invented Mohism, a counter to Confucianism and Taoism. Mozi’s disciples would converse with each other about philosophy through reasoning and arguments, much like Socrates. Mozi was the first person to say that just because something belongs to tradition, does not mean it is morally correct. Thus Mozi deviated from Confucian teachings to promote the search for morals objectively.
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