Context behind this question:
So I watched some Chinese Youtubers recently (apparantly they crossed the firewall and there is a “trend” of this recently? not sure…) and watching some footage, which then triggered some old memories, again…
So when I was a kid in Guangzhou City, it was like 2008 and I had issues with home (fight with older brother) so I remember “running away” (not actually running away just impulse decision lol, I was 6 years old, what was I gonna do? no survival skills lmao) from home for a few hours… and I wandered like a very long distance away from home so when I came back several hours later, I noticed the police were only searching nearby my house, they might not have found me if I didn’t get scared and decide to come back myself.
So fast forward to now, with all these cameras everywhere…
Hypothetically, if I was a kid again and I did that same “running away” thing, how long would it take for the police to find me? Like one hour? 10 minutes?
Like I can imagine them just stopping me within 5 minutes and be like: (in Mandarin) “Hey kid where to do think you’re going? Stop being a disobedient child and go back home” 💀
Okay maybe this is a stupid question, lol (still kinda traumatized from that day, so this is sort of cartharisis for me)
As someone who has lived in China before (both in HK and the mainland) I would like at add some of my observations regarding the security in the mainland.
There really are security cameras everywhere, at least in the urban areas (Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, etc.), and I heard that it’s very effective against thieves, and many people I know have lost their phone / some other belonging in the trains and was able to get it back! In some places, there’s even locations where ecommerce deliveries are stored openly with no passwords, guards, or anything, and people can easily come in to grab their deliveries. There aren’t much thieves since everyone knows that the police will easily find you. Conversely, this makes speaking out against the government difficult too, since that’s also treated as a severe crime.
Another thing, particularly at border crossings and that sort, there are guards standing on platforms with a good view of the surrounding area. Even so, some very petty crimes aren’t really enforced. For example, smoking is very prevalent in China, even though you would be fined for doing so. On every streets, there’s always at least one person smoking, it’s insane, there are simply too many people to fine for smoking.
Gun control is a huge deal in China too. My dad has been to one of the few registered shooting clubs, and he says that, after he finished, they had use metal detectors for any bullet shells, checking his shoes too, since the company running the club would be in big trouble if any were not accounted for.
Kidnappings are presumably less prevalent in China due to loads of cameras in urban areas, but much of the mainland Chinese parents I know are all very protective of their children so clearly it still exists as a threat, as in most places.
TLDR: It does help to reduce thievery and other crimes, particularly in urban areas, but it also works to crack down on dissidents and those against the government. Petty crimes like smoking aren’t really prosecuted much. As for kidnappings, there is probably less of it, but people are still quite protective of their children in China, and more rural areas don’t have such security.