What is Social Credit?The Social Credit System is a national reputation system being developed by the Chinese government. By 2020, it is intended to standardise the assessment of citizens' and businesses' economic and social reputation, or 'Social Credit'. The system will be one unified system and there will be a single system-wide social credit score for each citizen and business. The system is considered as a form of mass surveillance which uses big data analysis technology. Critics will point to similar 'surveillance' systems already in operation in western countries.
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What is Totalitarian?Totalitarianism is a political system or a form of government that prohibits opposition parties. It restricts individual opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high degree of control over public and private life. It is regarded as the most extreme and complete form of authoritarianism. In totalitarian states, political power has often been held by autocrats who employ all-encompassing campaigns in which propaganda is broadcast by state-controlled mass media. Totalitarian regimes are often characterized by extensive political repression, a complete lack of democracy, widespread personality cultism, absolute control over the economy, restrictions on speech, mass surveillance, and widespread use of state terrorism. Other aspects of a totalitarian regime include the use of concentration camps, repressive secret police, religious persecution or state atheism, the extensive practice of capital punishment, fraudulent elections (if they take place), and potentially state-sponsored mass murder and genocides.
What is Coronavirus?Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans, coronaviruses cause respiratory tract infections that are typically mild, such as the common cold, though rarer forms such as SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 can be lethal. Symptoms vary in other species: in chickens, they cause an upper respiratory tract disease, while in cows and pigs they cause diarrhea. There are yet to be vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent or treat human coronavirus infections.
What is China?China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC) is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.4 billion in 2019. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, it is the world's third or fourth-largest country by area. Governed solely by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the state exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. China is a unitary one-party socialist republic, and is one of the few existing nominally socialist states. Political dissidents and human rights groups have denounced and criticized the Chinese government for human rights abuses, including suppression of religious and ethnic minorities, censorship, mass surveillance, and their response to protests, notably in 1989.