All Carrots and No Sticks: A Case Study on Social Credit Scores in Xiamen and Fuzhou

In 2018 Xiamen and Fuzhou, two cities in Fujian province, a region on the coast in the southeast most famous for its historic trader links and global diaspora population, became one of just a handful of cities in China with their own city-level personal credit scores (个人信用评分). These are algorithmically created scores, using data gathered[…]

Saving Face 2.0: 8 Simple Rules for Surviving China’s New Rating System

While China’s new surveillance policy purports to be a “credit system,” it in fact considers nearly every aspect of public and private behaviour in determining each citizen’s social score. These data points are not random, and have historical and cultural significance to the Chinese people, including the concept of “saving face,” or maintaining a good[…]