They've just (last year or so) started doing this for chinese citizens when boarding trains. They place their ID card and ticket on a scanner thing and look into the camera to let them into the terminal. When you check into a hotel, get a visa within china, or make some larger purchases like residential internet, they also take your picture. I've also seen it being used for smaller payments (ie at institution canteens or through alipay at KFC), but that's still not too widespread or mandatory.
As another posted noted they're also running facial recognition on security cameras for "public safety" and there's some propaganda about them finding a wanted criminal in the crowd at a concert and arresting him there using this tech. But I think a lot of the time there's too much bureaucracy to get this system to run efficiently unless the scope is within a certain, limited area (like Xinjiang) or a major crime was committed.
If America is starting to do this, then for sure China will at some point.