I've worked inside various China government departments. In many respects, they have less data on China citizens than the U.S. government has access to on U.S.

I've worked inside various China government departments. In many respects, they have less data on China citizens than the U.S. government has access to on U.S. citizens. If China is on a "1984 path", all I can tell you is the U.S. and UK are ahead of them at the moment in terms of data collection. As to needing to be an insider to get your business going. This is only true for certain types of business. For those types, as a foreigner, you'd do well to stay out of it anyway, without regard to how connected you are.