监视

• Pinyin: jiān shì
• Hanzi breakdown: 监 = 臣 + 皿 (official watching from above); 视 = 示 + 见 (revelation + sight — seeing what is revealed, looking intently)

Meaning

To watch closely; to keep under surveillance; to monitor a person or group, often with a sense of suspicion or control.

Unlike 监控 (technical/institutional monitoring), 监视 carries a stronger connotation of deliberate, targeted watching — often of a specific individual suspected of wrongdoing. Common in law enforcement, intelligence, political, and literary contexts. The phrase 监视居住 (residential surveillance) is a specific legal measure in Chinese criminal law.

Examples

1. 警察对嫌疑人实施了长达数周的秘密监视。 The police secretly kept the suspect under surveillance for several weeks.
2. 在冷战时期，各国间谍互相监视是家常便饭。 During the Cold War, spies watching one another was routine.
3. 他察觉到自己一直处于被人监视的状态，内心十分不安。 He sensed he was being watched all the time, and it made him deeply uneasy.

Usage Guide

Context: law enforcement, intelligence, security, political, literature, legal proceedings

Tone: serious

Do Say

• 对符合条件的嫌疑人可采取监视居住，但须经严格程序审查。(Qualified suspects may be placed under residential surveillance, but only after strict procedural review.)
• 小说写出特工在高度监视下靠伪装身份和情报网周旋，并把恐惧化为动力。(The novel shows agents operating under heavy surveillance, relying on cover identities and intelligence networks to maneuver, and turning fear into motivation.)

Don't Say

• 监视 implies targeted, often suspicious watching of a specific subject — do not use it for neutral technical monitoring (use 监控) or institutional oversight (use 监督 or 监察). 监视 carries a connotation of suspicion or control; using it for benign observation is misleading.

Origin & History

监 (to oversee; to watch from above) + 视 (to look at; to regard carefully — 示 reveal + 见 see — looking intently at what is revealed)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal