Building the new Chinese police state.(Inside Track)

China, many might be surprised to learn, is still a communist nation. As such, it has a long and rich history of oppressing the Chinese people. Most of the techniques of oppression practiced by the regime in Beijing were learned from Soviet advisers and were modeled on the Soviet example. Now, often with the help of Western technology firms, China is installing the latest hi-tech gadgetry available in an attempt to stifle dissent and control information. China, says a Wired News summary of the situation, is "well down the road to enacting some of the Orwellian technology that is just now being debated in the U.S."

China, for instance, is rapidly following the British trend, still somewhat lagging here in America, of installing massive numbers of surveillance cameras. "At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets ... in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect un usual activity," the New York Times reported on August ...