The People's Republic of China has perfected Orwellian surveillance and it is now being exported to the world. It has mastered surveillance, gamification, and AI analysis to create a society where anyone who participates in unharmonious behavior is immediately identified and enticed or coerced into behaving appropriately.

This book is scary, because it is obvious that this draconian future is exactly the one Orwell wrote about, only with machines enforcing human behavior, not fallible humans.

The author does an amazing job of laying out all of the facts in a step-by-step manner. There is very little emotion in this book. It is very European in that sense -- not as opinionated as an American journalist might write.

Overall, I recommend most Americans read this book, regardless of your political affiliation. The Chinese Communist Party (i.e., Xi Jinping) wants to become the dominant world super power. They make no bones about it. They are producing hypnotized, nationalist masses and ready to take on the US and liberal democracy in general. With AI, they can do it.

Incredible read about the surveillance and overwhelming involvement of the CCP involvement in the daily life of China's citizens. The book goes into great detail about how China has utilized technology to repress any dissonance. Whether or not you're interested in China, this is a must read for anyone to realize how life is in China right now. It's a fairly fast paced read as each chapter is fascinating.

Perhaps it was apparent from the blurb alone that this book would be biased, calling China "the most horrifying surveillance state in history" due to its technological advancement. Perhaps another red flag was that the blurb uses President Bill Clinton and Google’s Eric Schmidt as authorities on the freedom of internet (yes, Google *chuckles*).

As a big enthusiast of this subject, I have read my fair share of sources discussing democracy and rights from both sides: China and the West. In my opinion, the most important value in academic writing, such as Strittmatter attempts to do, is analyzing both sides with open-mindedness and at least trying to understand the problem objectively. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen in this book as it is shamelessly one-sided, why I couldn't bear as a critical reader.

I do like the writing, but I find this kind of discourse unfair and dangerous.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.