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China's Population Statistics: An Illusion?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Leo A. Orleans
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Extract

Whether one agrees or disagrees with a particular evaluation or interpretation of the 1953 census registration—“the first modern census of China”—one must admit that the few published statistics have been thoroughly covered and analysed. Not enough attention, however, has been given to the system that was established to produce the population data published since 1953. Most of the analysis has naturally focused on acceptability of the figures themselves and reasonableness of the indicated rates of growth, rather than on the capabilities of the responsible institutions and individuals to collect the necessary data for current population statistics—the only means of determining a nation's population and its rate of growth during the intercensal period.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 21 , March 1965 , pp. 168 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1965

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References

1 The most comprehensive description and evaluation of the system of population registration in Communist China was done by John S. Aird in: U.S. Bureau of the Census. The Size, Composition, and Growth of the Population of Mainland China, International Population Statistics Reports, Series P-90, No. 15, Washington 25, D.C., 1961.Google Scholar

2 For the details of the various phases of the statistical policies and processes the reader is referred to Professor Choh-ming Li's excellent study, The Statistical System of China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962).Google Scholar

3 Kuang-ming Jih-pao, April 2, 1955.Google Scholar Survey of China Mainland Press (SCMP) (Hong Kong: United States Consulate-General), No. 1040.Google Scholar

4 Chung-hua Jen-min Kung-ho-kuo Fa-kuei Hui-pien (Digest of Laws and Regulations of the People's Republic of China) (Peking: Publisher, 1956).Google Scholar

5 NCNA, January 9, 1958, SCMP, No. 1695.

6 Ibid.. January 9, 1958, SCMP, No. 1695.

7 Jen-min Jih-pao (People's Daily), January 10, 1958.Google Scholar

8 Ibid.. June 29, 1956.

9 Kuang-ming Jih-pao (Kuang-ming Daily), April 2, 1955; SCMP No. 1040.Google Scholar

10 Ching-chi Yen-chiu (Statistical Research), No. 1, January 17, 1960.Google Scholar

11 Min-kuo Shih-ch'i-nien Ko Sheng Shih Hu-k'ou T'iao-ch'a T'ung-chi Pao-kao (Statistical Report on Household Investigation in Various Provinces and Municipalities, 1928) (Nanking: Ministry of the Interior, Department of Statistics, 1931).Google Scholar As quoted by Taeuber, Irene B. and Wang, Nai-chi, “Questions on Population Growth in China,” Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of the Milbank Memorial Fund (New York: 1960).Google Scholar

12 T'ung-chi Kung-Tso (Statistical Work), No. 11, June 14, 1957.Google Scholar

13 Jen-min Jih-pao (People's Daily), October 25, 1959.Google Scholar

14 Ten Great Years (Peking: Publisher, 1960)Google Scholar and Ti-li Chih-shih (Geographical Knowledge), September 1957.Google Scholar

15 Hsin Chien-she (New Construction), No. 4, 1957.Google Scholar

16 Statistical Work, No. 12, 1957.Google Scholar

17 Jen-min Pao-chien (People's Health), I, No. 5, 1959.Google Scholar

18 Using an entirely different approach, essentially the same conclusion was reached by Irene Taeuber when she stated that “… There has never been either a field enumeration or a controlled registration of the population of China. There has never been a record or reporting system that yielded accurate data on births, deaths, and migration in all China. Hence there can be no objective knowledge of the size of the population of China and its rate of change over time. China remains ‘the country without statistics’.”Google Scholar Taeuber, Irene B. and Wang, Nai-chi, “Questions on Population Growth in China,” Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of the Milbank Memorial Fund (New York: Publisher, 1960).Google Scholar