Second article is behind a paywall. I saw a lot of face shields when I was in China. I'm pretty sure they are for avoiding surveillance cameras. Face recognition is easy to beat under most circumstances, even though that isn't the point. It's stupid scary to have authorities with the ability to spy on you at their whim.

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'99 E300 Turbodiesel, '82 300TD, 1996 12V Cummins Turbo, '94 Neoplan - Detroit 6V92TA