Guangdong plans to spend more than 12 billion yuan (HK$14.7 billion) to almost double the number of digital surveillance cameras to 2 million in an effort to curb crime and better manage the migrant population.
Police said the hi-tech cameras could recognise faces and vehicle licence plates, analyse the flow of people and identify unusual gatherings in the province.
Security supervisors will analyse the personal data captured by the cameras around the clock and shared with city governments by the end of this year.
The widespread sharing of this information across the province is expected to start by 2014.
Authorities said personal data from the surveillance system could be combined with information from identity cards to ensure that criminal activity is detected.
However, rights activists have criticised the use of cameras and data-analysis systems as an invasion of privacy and civil rights, despite the claims of authorities that more than 74,000 suspects had been arrested in the past four years.