“Closed-off management” involved many features.30 People were required to shelter in their homes and were given permission to leave only once or twice a week for essentials. Shoppers waited in lines and kept six feet of separation between themselves and others—a development that stunned both local and foreign observers familiar with the usual press

That type of data collection may rub many Americans the wrong way. They don’t want Big Brother or corporate America to know too much about what they’re up to. But people in China are more accepting of having their faces, voices, and shopping choices captured and digitized.