Mainland Chinese authorities have set up dozens of advanced surveillance cameras to monitor outspoken critic Xu Zhangrun round the clock outside his Beijing residence.

In an article charting his recent activities, Xu said at least nine closed-circuit television cameras have been operating nonstop within 50 meters of his home. Dozens of additional cameras have also been set up at slightly further positions within his housing estate.

Installation workers told Xu that the cameras were equipped with night vision and sound-recording technologies and could automatically track the movements of passersby.

Xu, who wrote a number of articles criticizing the Chinese government in recent years, was sacked by Tsinghua University in August after authorities accused him of soliciting prostitution. He was detained for about a week in July before his release.

The cameras have been monitoring Xu, who has been prohibited from leaving Beijing, as well as his visitors, according to Ji Feng, a friend of the outspoken scholar and an activist who participated in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations.

An academic from Capital Normal University was recently summoned by officials after visiting Xu at his home, Ji told Radio Free Asia. Another artist friend was evicted from his Beijing residence after meeting Xu for a meal recently, Ji added.

The latest actions undertaken by authorities have in effect isolated Xu from his social network as some of his former colleagues at Tsinghua feared retribution for contacting the scholar, Ji said. Foreign media would also find it impossible to reach Xu now, he added.

In a series of articles penned over the last few years, Xu has criticized President Xi Jinping for moving toward authoritarian rule by abolishing the presidential term limits. Last year, the legal scholar also slammed the Chinese government over its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak and called the pandemic a man-made disaster.

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