In addition to identifying Muslim students that are fasting during Ramadan, based on their dining records, the Minjiang University smart campus project tracks and provides school management with extensive information on a person’s daily habits and life, according to the tender.
Within the 600 page tender Hikvision won from the Chinese government is the outline of a system called the "Assisted Analysis Of Ethnic Minority Students" which is intended to support administrators' "decision-making" and includes a feature that alerts administration to students suspected of fasting, according to a study.
This includes details on book borrowing, holiday destinations, passport use, student club activities, information about family members and where individuals stand on their application for membership to the Chinese Communist Party.
While reasons for observing fasting may vary, Beijing’s repression of Muslims raises suspicions that China wants to watch tired and hungry students observing the holy month of Ramadan, during which the faithful abstain from eating or drinking from dawn to sunset.