Cui Dongliang, at his tea shop in Yangqiao, Zhejiang province, in China. Next to the door is a sign that indicates his social credit score, which he himself upgraded to five stars using stick­ers. Photo: Gilles Sabrié for The Daily Telegraph Magazine
Cui Dongliang, at his tea shop in Yangqiao, Zhejiang province, in China. Next to the door is a sign that indicates his social credit score, which he himself upgraded to five stars using stick­ers. Photo: Gilles Sabrié for The Daily Telegraph Magazine
Post Magazine /  Long Reads

The village testing China’s social credit system: driven by big data, its citizens earn a star rating

Set to be rolled out by next year, the scheme is the nation’s most ambitious project in social engineering since the Cultural Revolution. Whether it eventually creates an Orwellian dystopia, or an honest, harmonious society, as intended, remains to be seen

Sophia Yan

Updated: 2:00pm, 2 Jun, 2019

Why you can trust SCMP
Cui Dongliang, at his tea shop in Yangqiao, Zhejiang province, in China. Next to the door is a sign that indicates his social credit score, which he himself upgraded to five stars using stick­ers. Photo: Gilles Sabrié for The Daily Telegraph Magazine
Cui Dongliang, at his tea shop in Yangqiao, Zhejiang province, in China. Next to the door is a sign that indicates his social credit score, which he himself upgraded to five stars using stick­ers. Photo: Gilles Sabrié for The Daily Telegraph Magazine
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