Security cameras are positioned on the Great Wall of China on the outskirts of Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A worker naps near a security camera along a deserted beach near Sanya city in southern China's Hainan province, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A portrait of late paramount leader Mao Zedong is seen behind security cameras near Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Pigeons fly past security surveillance cameras during sunset in Beijing, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
CCTV cameras are lined up on a pole along a road in Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
BEIJING (AP) 鈥 The Chinese government has blanketed the country with the world's largest network of surveillance cameras.
Some cameras swivel, ensuring sweeping views of public squares. Others scan license plates of passing cars, allowing police to track vehicles in real-time. At night, cameras light up across China鈥檚 cities, shining lights down alleys and corners.
Over the past few decades, the Chinese government has rolled out a series of high-tech surveillance projects aimed at bringing the entire country under watch, including 鈥淪ky Net鈥 and the 鈥淕olden Shield鈥.
The latest such project is called the 鈥淴ueliang Project,鈥 or Sharp Eyes, a reference to a quote from Communist China鈥檚 founder, Mao Zedong, who once said 鈥渢he people have sharp eyes鈥 when urging them to root out neighbors opposed to socialist values.
AP investigations have found that American companies , playing a far greater role in enabling human rights abuses than previously known. to the Chinese police, government and surveillance companies, AP found.
The cameras studding China are knitted together in policing systems that allow authorities to track and control virtually anyone in the country, to the state like dissidents, religious believers or ethnic minorities. Following directives from Beijing to ensure 鈥100 percent coverage鈥 in key public areas, authorities have installed facial-recognition cameras across the country, including in unlikely locations:
Ski slopes.
Beaches.
Remote country roads.
The Great Wall of China.
A slew of cameras greets visitors to Beijing, with a screen underneath announcing: 鈥淎mazing China travel starts here!鈥
At times, entire neighborhoods have been demolished and rebuilt in part to make it easier for cameras to keep watch. The historic quarter of once a maze-like warren of twisting alleys, was demolished and rebuilt with wider avenues and thousands of camera that light up at night.
China鈥檚 cities, roads and villages are now studded with more cameras than the rest of the world combined, analysts say 鈥 roughly one for every two people.
The goal is clear, according to authorities: Total surveillance in every corner of the country, with 鈥渘o blind spots鈥 to be found.
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
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