Leiden University Student Repository

Velghe, Pieter (2017)

"Reading China": The Internet of Things, Social Management and Surveillance

Master thesis | Asian Studies (60 EC) (MA)

The Chinese state has recently put a lot of emphasis on making “informatization” (xinxihua) the key engine of domestic economic and societal development. However, these plans also include schemes such as the controversial Social Credit System. By bolstering the power of technology, the Chinese leadership hopes to increase the centralization of governing power and at the same time increase its control over Chinese society. New technologies such as Big Data or the Internet of Things (IoT) become crucial in these endeavors but these come not without risk, as they can be comprised or malfunction. By analyzing the policy documents issued on a technology like the IoT, this thesis tries to scrutinize the envisioned scope of the Chinese leadership’s techno ambitions. This wide scope goes from using this technology to transform anything from manufacturing to medical care, to improving social management and “military-civil integration” (junmin ronghe).

Internet China social management surveillance

Author

Velghe, Pieter

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Politics, Society and Economy of Asia

Supervisors

Creemers, Rogier

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en