China says it has achieved a miraculously low-crime society

ON SEPTEMBERnd 22, in the north-eastern city of Yanji, a police officer discovered that his pistol had gone missing. Lucky for him, the Chinese police control the world’s largest network of surveillance cameras. Video footage showed that the gun had been stolen at a vegetable market. The thief’s movements were traced to a rural county some 500km away. Dozens of officers were sent to arrest him. Within 24 hours of the theft the gun was recovered, according to state media.Such fearsome efficiency, say Chinese officials, has helped their country become one of the safest in the world. The recorded homicide rate per 100,000 people in China is about a tenth of the global average. Only 6,522 people were murdered in 2021, according to the state, down about 80% from two decades ago. During that same period, robberies fell by 97% and assaults by 40%.