Digital Governance, Dataveillance, and Participatory Panopticon: Public Health Surveillance in China from 2020 to 2022.
This article investigates mass surveillance in China during the public health emergency (PHE) from 2020 to 2022. Drawing on ethnography, governmental documentation, and news reports, I provide an empirical account of how the PHE drove the transformations of mass surveillance: dataveillance prevailed...
| Published in: | Journal of Contemporary China Vol. 35; no. 158; pp. 1320 - 1337 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Mar2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=191630066&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 191630066 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10670564 LCC jtl: Journal of Contemporary China issn: 10670564 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Mar2026 vid: 35 iid: 158 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 191630066 10.1080/10670564.2025.2513409 ppf: 1320 ppct: 17 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 191630066 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 191630066 tig: atl: Digital Governance, Dataveillance, and Participatory Panopticon: Public Health Surveillance in China from 2020 to 2022. aug: au: Zhao Liu, Jules affil: Sun Yat-Sen University, China su: China Discipline & Punish (Book) Electronic surveillance Public health surveillance Ethnology Technological innovations COVID-19 pandemic Authoritarianism Power (Social sciences) sug: subj: Electronic surveillance Public health surveillance Ethnology Technological innovations COVID-19 pandemic Authoritarianism Power (Social sciences) China Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors Discipline & Punish (Book) keyword: dataveillance Digital governance pandemic prevention and control participatory Panopticon dataveillance Digital governance pandemic prevention and control participatory Panopticon ab: This article investigates mass surveillance in China during the public health emergency (PHE) from 2020 to 2022. Drawing on ethnography, governmental documentation, and news reports, I provide an empirical account of how the PHE drove the transformations of mass surveillance: dataveillance prevailed over visual surveillance; participatory surveillance outweighed state-monopolized surveillance; and surveillance was used for predictive/preventative purposes more than reactive/explanatory purposes. These changes resulted in a new modality of surveillance: participatory Panopticon (citizens were engaged in the state's surveillance system as objects and tools for the exercise of power). This study elaborates on the mechanism of this mode of surveillance. I reveal that behind the surveillance transformations lies China's digital politics—digitalization of governance as a primary goal in the government's agenda. Arguing that dataveillance lies at the core of digital governance, the implications of this study show that continuous building of digital governance will probably change the state-society relations: the rapid development of dataveillance technologies will empower the state to 'swallow up' society eventually. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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