In recent years, China has implemented a series of measures in community governance and social surveillance, aiming to deepen the control of the party and the state into people's daily lives. Xi Jinping has learned from and improved the "Fengqiao Experience" of the Mao Zedong era, and built a huge surveillance system composed of grassroots staff and technical equipment. This control system not only involves specific social issues, but also strives to prevent potential threats and serve social stability. However, this all-encompassing surveillance model has also raised concerns about personal freedom and economic vitality.
Expansion of the grassroots community surveillance system
On the wall of a police station in a large residential area in Beijing, the information of residents in each building is carefully classified and posted. Each unit building is color-coded to indicate the safety level of the residents. Green means safe, yellow means close attention, and orange belongs to the "high-risk" area that needs strict control. In this way, police officers can not only grasp the detailed information of each household, but also keep an eye on the dynamics of the residents at any time, so as to achieve precise community management.
The working mechanism of "examining things, meeting people, and building feelings" identifies potential risks by strengthening police-civilian interaction. Police officers who go deep into the community regularly visit residents, grasp neighborhood conflicts, and record any abnormal phenomena. In order to expand the surveillance network, the government also recruited retired residents to serve as community "eyes and ears" to obtain first-hand information through them. At the same time, many units were required to set up "safety consultants" to help identify risks in the workplace and report to the police regularly.
Modern application of Fengqiao experience
The "Fengqiao experience" was first born in the small town of Fengqiao in the 1960s. Under the promotion of Mao Zedong, this model became one of the party's governance models by mobilizing the masses to criticize and transform "class enemies". Xi Jinping did not continue the extreme method of criticism and struggle, but borrowed from this experience and upgraded it to a modern means of social control - he called it the "New Era Fengqiao Experience". The core of this method is still to mobilize the public to participate in the government's management work, so that every community resident is under the surveillance network, so as to nip any potential problems in the bud.
This governance model is particularly evident during the epidemic. The government requires all residents to download health codes and cooperate with grid management. The community is divided into multiple small grids, each of which has a dedicated person in charge, who not only completes the virus detection task, but also isolates suspected cases at home. Through such a dual management method of manpower and technology, the Chinese government not only achieved control of the epidemic in the early stage of the epidemic, but also accumulated a large amount of personal action data.
Grid workers and volunteers: human support for the control system
In order to ensure the normal operation of this huge control system, the government actively promotes the recruitment of grid workers and community volunteers. In many communities in Beijing, retired residents are organized as "safety volunteers" to be responsible for daily patrols of the streets. Beijing citizen Qi Jinyou (sound) and his companions patrol the area they are responsible for for two hours every morning and evening to ensure the safety of each building. In return, they will receive some small gifts or even spiritual recognition - a sense of responsibility to "maintain community safety."
In some communities, such as Zhangjiawan in the suburbs of Beijing, the existence of such volunteers is praised by many residents as "a guarantee of social stability." For example, Wang Li (sound), a meat vendor, said that street officials often conduct fire safety inspections to remind residents to stay safe. And for merchants like her who come home late because of work, the patrol cars in the neighborhood make her feel "at ease."
Demolition and repression: the cost of control
However, this control method is also used to force the advancement of government projects. The area around Zhangjiawan was undergoing large-scale demolitions due to government development needs, and many residents were forced to move out of their homes where they had lived for many years. Although the government said that 98% of residents had agreed to move, some residents, such as Ms. Mu, still refused to move because of the low compensation. Government officials and representatives of the developer visited her home many times, sometimes even sending people to threaten and cut off the water supply in an attempt to force her to give up resistance. Ms. Mu and her family had to drive to the city to get water, and she felt helpless in the face of this invisible oppression.
During the epidemic, as grassroots control was strengthened, many social activists also found that surveillance became more intensive. For example, human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang said that since he returned home after serving his sentence, dozens of people at his doorstep have been monitoring his movements every day, and even preventing his children from attending school normally. For those who dare to express their dissatisfaction, strict monitoring and pressure have become the norm.
The contradiction between economy and control
While maintaining social stability, this strict control system has also increased the economic burden on local governments. A large number of grid workers, volunteers and police officers are needed to maintain surveillance operations, resulting in increased government spending, which is particularly heavy against the backdrop of an economic slowdown. At the same time, excessive control has hindered small businesses and even caused the small economies of many communities to fall into trouble. A fried chicken vendor in Zhangjiawan was banned from setting up a stall on the sidewalk, and his income was insufficient to pay the rent for several months.
Not only that, residents are increasingly resentful of high-pressure surveillance. Strict inspections and frequent interventions have made some community members feel restricted in their lives, which not only affects their work and life, but also undermines their trust in the government to a certain extent. Excessive control may help solve immediate social problems, but it also lays hidden dangers for the legitimacy of the government.
The future direction of the modern Fengqiao experience
Xi Jinping's "New Era Fengqiao Experience" has become an important part of China's social control system with the dual support of science and technology and human resources. This approach has not only demonstrated its effectiveness during the epidemic, but has also become a part of daily life. However, how to find a balance between strict control and economic vitality will be a key issue for China's future governance system. Excessive monitoring and intervention may bring short-term stability, but in the long run, it may cause social conflicts and further affect economic development.