China’s Social Credit System

An authoritative study of the much discussed and little understood Chinese social credit system. This book gives the most up to date, comprehensive discussion of the origins, and reality, of the attempt by Beijing to quantify trust in a society of rapid social and technological change. Highly recommended. * Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute, King’s College London, UK *
This book provides a rich contextual explanation for the emergence of the Social Credit System, as well as a detailed account of its actual development and implementation. It also combines an assessment of central government policies and case studies from local experiments. Rather than presenting the System as a monolithic behemoth of authoritarian control, Knight’s account engages with the complexity that large government projects inevitably entail, and the difficulties of translating an abstract, futurist vision into concrete reality. It is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the interaction between technology, power, vision and imagination in today’s China. * Rogier Creemers, Lecturer of Modern Chinese Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands *
Years of alarmist coverage have left China’s social credit system widely misunderstood. This book offers a carefully sourced corrective, drawing on nearly 500 Chinese-language documents to reconstruct how the system was actually imagined, built and reformed. Rather than dystopian surveillance, what emerges is a story of bureaucratic improvisation, ideological ambition and ongoing negotiation between central planners and local officials. Rigorously researched and clearly argued, it provides a much-needed corrective to a genuinely misunderstood governance project. * Susan Trevaskes, Professor of Chinese Criminal Justice, Social Governance, and Law, Griffith University, Australia *