<story><title>US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China</title><url>https://m.dw.com/en/us-citizens-warned-they-face-arbitrary-arrest-in-china/a-54144205</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ciguy</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve been to China a few times, most recently in late 2018. I traveled overland by train from Beijing to Xian and then to Shanghai. Everything as a non-chinese citizen was just harder than it was when I visited in 2014. Buying train tickets was a massive hassle without a Chinese ID. Paying for anything was difficult because many places no longer take cash and you can&amp;#x27;t really get a proper WeChat account as a foreigner.&lt;p&gt;The entire time I just couldn&amp;#x27;t shake the feeling that I was living in a dystopian future. Security around Tiananmen Square in Beijing was so overdone it would almost have been funny if it wasn&amp;#x27;t scary. Facial recognition scans on the metro system. In Shanghai they use facial recognition at crosswalks and then put up the name and picture of violators on a huge screen at the intersection (I can only assume they also deduct from their social credit score).&lt;p&gt;If this is the direction China wants to continue to go in, I no longer want anything to do with it. As long as the CCP is in power I won&amp;#x27;t be visiting again. And now that includes Hong Kong sadly.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rorykoehler</author><text>Posted 10 mins ago and already downvoted. Do HN not have algos to stop this astroturfing behaviour? It’s becoming very prevalent for anything that criticises the CCP.</text></comment>
<story><title>US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China</title><url>https://m.dw.com/en/us-citizens-warned-they-face-arbitrary-arrest-in-china/a-54144205</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ciguy</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve been to China a few times, most recently in late 2018. I traveled overland by train from Beijing to Xian and then to Shanghai. Everything as a non-chinese citizen was just harder than it was when I visited in 2014. Buying train tickets was a massive hassle without a Chinese ID. Paying for anything was difficult because many places no longer take cash and you can&amp;#x27;t really get a proper WeChat account as a foreigner.&lt;p&gt;The entire time I just couldn&amp;#x27;t shake the feeling that I was living in a dystopian future. Security around Tiananmen Square in Beijing was so overdone it would almost have been funny if it wasn&amp;#x27;t scary. Facial recognition scans on the metro system. In Shanghai they use facial recognition at crosswalks and then put up the name and picture of violators on a huge screen at the intersection (I can only assume they also deduct from their social credit score).&lt;p&gt;If this is the direction China wants to continue to go in, I no longer want anything to do with it. As long as the CCP is in power I won&amp;#x27;t be visiting again. And now that includes Hong Kong sadly.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jackewiehose</author><text>&amp;gt; The entire time I just couldn&amp;#x27;t shake the feeling that I was
  living in a dystopian future [...] they use facial recognition
  at crosswalks and then put up the name and picture of violators
  on a huge screen at the intersection&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;feeling of a dystopian future&amp;quot;? That sounds straight like from an episode of Black Mirror.</text></comment>