China's watchful eye reaches into classrooms, intensifies political control

Authorities are combining Mao-era human spying practices with new surveillance technology to ferret out outspoken professors and students who fail to follow Communist Party ideology.

A friend of mine from Taiwan was guest lecturing earlier this year at a university in Shanghai. As he was trying out the equipment in a classroom the day before his first lecture, a loud voice came seemingly out of nowhere, chastising him for leaving the machine on after his test.

He scanned the room. There was nobody there. He then saw surveillance cameras and speakers on the walls — a chilling reminder that he would be teaching under the watchful eye of school authorities.

This professor’s experience offers a glimpse into the changing academic environment in China, where authorities combine Mao-era