How does China’s surveillance state really work?

China has built what may be the most capable police state in history, and has done so with a surprisingly small police force. Many attribute this feat to the technological artillery at the state’s disposal but tech is only one piece of a much larger puzzle.

A recent book by Minxin Pei, a prominent political scientist, reveals the secret of China’s surveillance state. David Rennie and Alice Su read The Sentinel State: Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China and talk to the author. They ask: How does China’s surveillance state really work?