China Installs Surveillance Cameras in Churches to Monitor Christians

China’s Orwellian-like network of surveillance cameras now includes churches.

Most churches within the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement in one major Chinese city, Huai’an, have government-mandated surveillance cameras that allow the communist government to monitor the congregation’s every move, Bitter Winter reported.

For example, Bitter Winter visited a Three-Self congregation that had 28 high-definition surveillance cameras, including six above the podium and four at the entrance. 

Within the Huaiyin district of Huai’an city, 155 of the 170 Three-Self churches have government-mandated cameras that are connected to a network allowing the government to watch Christians, Bitter Winter reported. Huai’an’s population is 4.7 million

“The Religious Affairs Bureau pressured us into installing them,” a member of the church told Bitter Winter. “Each surveillance camera is connected to the public security organs, as required by the Religious Affairs Bureau. They can see every move in the church. If we didn’t follow their demands, the church would have to be shut down.”

The cameras are part of a massive network of cameras across China that allow the government to monitor citizens. There are an estimated 176 million surveillance cameras across China, The Atlantic reported. That number could reach 450 million by 2020.

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