{"product_id":"we-have-been-harmonized-life-in-chinas-surveillance-state-isbn-9780063028616","title":"We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNamed a Notable Work of Nonfiction of 2020 by the \u003cem\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAs heard on NPR's\u003cem\u003e Fresh Air\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e, \u003cem\u003eWe Have Been Harmonized\u003c\/em\u003e, by award-winning correspondent Kai Strittmatter,\u003cbr\u003eoffers a groundbreaking look, based on decades of research, at how China created the most terrifying surveillance state in history. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChina’s\u003cbr\u003enew drive for repression is being underpinned by unpre­cedented advances in\u003cbr\u003etechnology: facial and voice recognition, GPS tracking, supercomputer\u003cbr\u003edatabases, intercepted cell phone conver­sations, the monitoring of app use,\u003cbr\u003eand millions of high-resolution security cameras make it nearly impossible for\u003cbr\u003ea Chinese citizen to hide anything from authorities. Commercial transactions,\u003cbr\u003eincluding food deliveries and online purchases, are fed into vast databases,\u003cbr\u003ealong with everything from biometric information to social media activities to\u003cbr\u003emethods of birth control. Cameras (so advanced that they can locate a single\u003cbr\u003eperson within a stadium crowd of 60,000) scan for faces and walking patterns to\u003cbr\u003etrack each individual’s move­ment. In some schools, children’s facial\u003cbr\u003eexpressions are monitored to make sure they are paying attention at the right\u003cbr\u003etimes. In a new Social Credit System, each citizen is given a score for good\u003cbr\u003ebehavior; for those who rate poorly, punishments include being banned from\u003cbr\u003eflying or taking high-speed trains, exclusion from certain jobs, and preventing\u003cbr\u003etheir children from attending better schools. And it gets worse: advanced\u003cbr\u003esurveillance has led to the imprisonment of more than a million Chinese\u003cbr\u003ecitizens in western China alone, many held in draconian “reeducation” camps.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis digital\u003cbr\u003etotalitarianism has been made possible not only with the help of Chinese private\u003cbr\u003etech companies, but the complic­ity of Western governments and corporations\u003cbr\u003eeager to gain access to China’s huge market. And while governments debate trade\u003cbr\u003ewars and tariffs, the Chinese Communist Party and its local partners are\u003cbr\u003eaggressively stepping up their efforts to export their surveillance\u003cbr\u003etechnology\u003cbr\u003eabroad—including to the United States. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWe Have Been Harmonized \u003c\/em\u003eis a terrifying portrait of life under\u003cbr\u003eunprecedented government surveillance—and a dire warning about what could\u003cbr\u003ehappen anywhere under the pretense of national security.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Terrifying. … A warning call.\" —\u003cem\u003eThe \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/em\u003e (UK), a “Best Book of the Year so Far”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“In this fine-grained and alarming portrait of modern-day China, Strittmatter details how President Xi Jinping’s ‘thirst for power’ and the tools of big data and artificial intelligence are paving the way for ‘the return of totalitarianism under digital garb.’ … Drawing on a wealth of experience in China, Strittmatter stuffs the book with telling details and incisive analysis. Even veteran China watchers will be impressed and enlightened.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Essential for all China watchers. This absorbing read will appeal to experts and novices alike.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"German journalist Strittmatter urges residents of the United States and Europe to keep an eye on China, which is eager to fill any leadership vacuum created by division in Western democracies. The picture he paints, of an authoritarian government investing heavily in big data and artificial intelligence, resembles science fiction.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSan Antonio Express-News, Editor's Pick\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Strittmatter's timely book, vividly written and excellently translated from the German by Ruth Martin, is a reminder of where this could lead.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSupChina\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An eye-opening journalistic account of escalating totalitarianism, its tools and technologies, and its implications worldwide.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eALA 2021 Notable Books List\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An engrossing, deeply reported survey of today’s China, a place that is part George Orwell, part Aldous Huxley.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDina Temple-Raston, Washington Post, \"Notable Nonfiction of 2020\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Strittmatter’s accessible yet hard-hitting narrative will find an audience with policymakers and general readers alike. A frightening, vital wake-up call: The West ignores the rise of an Orwellian China at its peril.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Terrifying. … This chilling book reveals just how far China has already gone in monitoring and controlling its citizens digitally. … China is attempting a shift unprecedented in global politics. It wants to combine the powers of a strong authoritarian regime with cutting-edge technology to create the most sophisticated surveillance state in history. Kai Strittmatter’s deeply researched and compellingly argued book makes the case that this is significant not just for China but for the world. … A warning call.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRana Mitter, Sunday Times (UK), a “Best Book of the Year so Far”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A remarkable book. … The most accessible and best-informed account we have had to date of China’s transition from what scholars such as Rebecca MacKinnon used to call ‘networked authoritarianism’ to what is now a form of networked totalitarianism. …The more one reads, the more pressing one conclusion becomes: almost everything we thought we knew about contemporary China is wrong. And this has happened because the lenses through which we viewed this emerging superpower were distorted by arrogance, naivety, complacency, commercial greed and wishful thinking.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJohn Naughton, The Observer, “Book of the Week”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Kai Strittmatter was for many years the Beijing correspondent for the \u003cem\u003eSüddeutsche Zeitung\u003c\/em\u003e, and his excellent \u003cem\u003eWe Have Been Harmonised\u003c\/em\u003e is an eye-opening account.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJohn Lanchester, London Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"William Morrow Large Print","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44889319211237,"sku":"NP9780063028616","price":30.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780063028616.jpg?v=1730230999","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/we-have-been-harmonized-life-in-chinas-surveillance-state-isbn-9780063028616","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}