I agreed that the Chinese live under a far more massive surveillance state than Americans. The issue is that the vibe of it is completely different from the USA's. I would be super paranoid about surveillance equipment in the USA being anywhere around me because I know that it's used basically to extract money from the citizenry in the guise of "fines" that line the pockets of police officials and their cronies in the consulting world.

Here, despite being under surveillance from practically the moment I leave my building's front door until I reach my workplace or another person's home or the like I've never, not even once in 25 years, had that surveillance intrude into my life. I have, however, lived through the period before the surveillance was put into place and where theft of many kinds (bicycles and scooters were what I saw happening most) was commonplace.

The issue is that the Chinese government is all about "social stability" and they're smart enough to know that if surveillance was used America-style—as rent extraction, basically—that this leads to instability. So they very publicly use it against crime, selling it as a net positive to their citizens. The vibe is completely different.

(Note: I'm not denying that it's weaponized against dissidence. Dissidents cause "social instability" and … well, yeah. Guess what the Chinese government is allergic to. I just lack any direct information about this.)