Citizens Police 市民警察

My firsthand experience with the “Social Credit” system in the Peoples’s Republic of China.

It’s a quiet Saturday evening, I’m relaxing in my Shanghai flat with my roomate. The pollution is bad outside today, so neither of us is planning to leave the house for a while. We’ve made some stir fried veggies and are talking about real estate in the living room.

A knock on the door. My rooomate looks at me. I shrug, telling him implicitly I also am not expecting anyone.

The closest I could get to a photo of ChengYun. Credit:: iStock

I walk over and open the door. There’s a 45 year old woman in the doorway. She’s looking at me in amazement when I respond to her in Chinese. She introduces herself as ChengYun, and tells us that she’s a neighbor in our apartment complex — she doesn’t specify how close of a neighbor she is though, is she right next door, or maybe an entire building away?

I ask her what I can do for her, and she starts with her explanation:

I live close by, and I am doing the landlord of your apartment a favor. He wanted me to make sure that all of the tenants in this apartment are all still the same as before, can I ask you a few questions?

I look at my roomate who is ethnic Chinese and might have a better read on the situation. The tone has become a bit more tense in the room…