China to start a scorecard system that ranks citizens on every part of their behaviour by 2020

How much should the government control our behavior?

Do you think that China needs more rules to teach its people how to act in public?

China is going to start a controversial social credit system.

It will rank all of its 1.4 billion citizens on their behavior in real-time.

Doing community service and buying Chinese products is thought to improve your social standing. A perfect score is 800.

Those rated 'top citizens' get VIP treatment at airports, cheaper loans, best treatment at hotels and car rentals and easier entry to elite universities. 

Not paying tax, cheating and smoking in non-smoking areas can drop your ranking.

Also buying things in supermarkets such as alcohol or video games will drop your ranking.

Those with a low social score are barred from the best jobs and don’t get the best high-speed internet and are even barred from sending their children to top schools.

China plans to have 600 million AI-powered cameras around its major cities to watch everyone.

China has already had successful tests of this plan in provinces across China.

The cameras have, facial recognition, body scanning and can follow you everywhere.

This real-time tracking is combined with citizens' individuals' government records - including their medical, educational and financial histories.

China's Communist Party calls the system 'social credit' and says it will be fully working by 2020.

In a few years it will allow trusted people to move freely and make it hard for the people with a low credit to do things.

This program is similar to the Netflix 2016 Black Mirror episode Nosedive.

In this episode citizens receive a social score on others rate them in day-to-day actions. 

This system gives incentives for those with a high social credit score.

They will get first opportunity to public housing, travel visas and job promotions

An expert in China's economic and political culture, said in an interview this system could have many implications.

He says how the new scoring system works is kept secret.

It could be easily used by the government to control us to their plans.

The government and the people controlling the plan would like it to go as deeply as possible to determine how to allocate benefits.

Many say it is just a way for the government to control the people. To follow their thinking.

There will be penalties for not being a trusted person. It gives the government control to make sure people adhere to government-mandated social behaviors.

Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. Some of the answers are very close and have similar meaning. The meaning of these words is how they are used in the reading. Some of these words have different meanings in the dictionary depending on how they are used.

 The answers are below the table.

A=1, B=8, C=5, D=7, E=2, F=4, G=6, H=3

Some example sentences using the new words or phrases from the meaning of how they are used in the reading to help you understand better.

1. It was a controversial decision by the judge to not send the criminal to jail.

2. Harvard and Oxford are elite universities.

3. Smoking is barred in all restaurants from this year. It has been mandated by the government.

4. If you use this credit card you have an incentive. You get 50% discount at the movies.

5. The implications of not studying hard is that you could fail.

6. 10,000 won will be allocated to each person to buy lunch.

      7.   If you do not adhere to the class room rules you will have to pay a penalty

Some questions using the new words/phrases. Try to use the words/phrases in your answer.

1. How controversial would a rule like in today’s story be in your country?

2. Do you agree that people who act well in society should have more chance to go to elite schools? Why or why not?

3. What do you think will happen in society if people who do not act well are barred from enjoying the same things as other people?

4. Do you think it is better to give incentives to people to do good or to punish them for doing bad? What incentives should be allocated to people who act well in society?

5. What implications do you think this will have on China? Would the implications be the same in your country? Why or why not?

6. Do you think people should adhere to rules because the government makes them? Or should they adhere to rules because they want to?

7. Do you think the government should mandate more or less rules in your society? Why or why not?