A n g i e S m i t h
Angelina's Piece
If you had asked me a month or two ago – when I was still living in Hong Kong – about my opinions on Chinese surveillance, I would have avoided answering. But now, writing in Canada, I feel safe enough to speak.
It's rather well known that China has pretty tight security; cameras are scattered in every crevice, and social media is constantly monitored.
For a country so large, it might be understandable to take such extreme measures to keep its population safe. But what is not understandable - how Chinese people live in fear, carefully speaking only the words the government has sanctioned to avoid jail time.
Every message we send is monitored. Every word we say is recorded by cameras, and every single social media post can be censored. Ironically, a hashtag for free speech, which had racked up millions of views, was removed hours after it went viral.
The article “China Took Her Husband. She Was Left to Uncover His Secret Cause” discusses the effort Ruan Xiaohuan put into building a website that spoke freely of the government despite the consequences. I couldn’t help but feel hopeful while reading, knowing that people could voice their disagreements with our leaders despite all the censorship.
Even so, I feel sad that surveillance has reached the point where we must sacrifice our livelihoods in order to have a voice in the country that I’ve left. After all, I don’t want to live a life where I am afraid to speak, and I certainly don’t want to disappear for speaking out.
Based on the article by Vivian Wang:
