The UK has more CCTV per capita than China (the highest in the world). It also has more prisoners per capita than China, not as much as the US though. China invests in its people, in infrastructure, schools, healthcare, roads, high speed rail etc. - something the US does not do much anymore because the US is run by profit seeking megacorporations and china is run by govnts that limit what those corporations can do, and a govnt that taxes corps properly so it can invest in the people and its nation.