No Stupid Questions

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.

Cameras don't prevent crime. They don't prevent accidents. They're at most used to find afterwards what happened.

By the time a cop would decide to bother and check the cameras, and find you in the footage, and trace your steps through the various cameras, you would have been back on your own already.

The ideas that cameras are a matter of security for the people is propaganda. They are here to destroy privacy and allow the elimination of opponents and dissidents, they don't really care about crime. Doesn't mean that cops would never use them for other purposes, but they definitely don't care as much as you think. And of course, caring isn't the same thing as being able to do anything in a reasonable time.

Cameras do not make the society free of crime.

Cameras do not make any kind of freedom.

Cameras just help the powerful people to keep their power.

Depends how good their camera person tracking system is I guess, and whether police have direct access to it. I think propaganda might sometimes exaggerate how well these things work to make people believe the state is more capable than it really is.

Well... The people who own and control the surveillance can still kidnap to their heart's content.

China is a big place. Saturation with security cameras is an urban thing.

Also, something I've learned in America is that people make a lot of noise about keeping kids safe, but that's all just smoke. I can't speak for China, but in America children are the least valuable humans, in economic terms, and they get prioritized accordingly.

According to World Population Review, about 109 countries publicly report missing children statistics an China is not one of them. I don't think that's any indication of not having missing children, rather that they're apathetic to the entire concept.

its likely capture footage of an event, but someone still probably has to actually report the kidnapping before anything gets started. Its the same idea with allthe traffic cameras im china, it doesnt really prevent people from necessarily speeding immediately, rather around a camera, people will start to slow down, and they wouldnt really chase down someone breaking a traffic law unless youre breaking them over and over again.

basically it wont directly prevent the action itself, but it would be used to confirm/disprove alibis much easier, thus may make people second guess an action more (but not necessarily remove it altogether)

It depends if the cameras have enough image definition and are tied to an AI database.

Extrapolating from American technology, it is likely years away from China being able to implement this on a national scale. Even if they did, it would likely roll out starting in government buildings and transit stations first.

I doubt that a system is set up like that in China, but I could see that kind of system being built in the near future.

So? What did you find out?