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The Preparations for China's 1982 Census

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

John S. Aird
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Extract

China's third national census, taken as of 00:00 hours 1 July 1982, presumably counted more than one billion people. This census is of enormous importance not only for Chinese statistics but for world demography, because it may resolve at last the perennial doubts about the size of China's population. It will also provide many kinds of demographic data not now available from any other source in China and add greatly to the national stock of statistics. The data will support a tremendous upsurge in demographic analysis and serve as a base for future sample surveys. They will have many immediate practical applications in planning and administration. Assuming that the central instructions have been generally observed, the census will do much to enhance China's statistical credibility throughout the world.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 91 , September 1982 , pp. 369 - 385
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1982

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References

1. There is some disagreement among Chinese sources as to this last item, but it was included in an account given by an official of the State Statistical Bureau (SSB) in November 1979 to the U.S. Statistical Delegation to China.

2. The number of items on the census questionnaire varies from one source to another from as few as 13 to as many as 24. Some of the variation is probably due to different ways of counting questions and topics and some to changes in the questionnaire as the preparatory work was under way. Li Chengrui, the director of the SSB who is director of the central ensus office and the chief census planner, has given three different numbers in less than a year. In June 1981 in an article for the new SSB statistical journal he said that the Wuxi pretest questionnaire had 18 items. In an August reprint of the article that appeared in the People's Daily the number was given as 20. In a report distributed at the International Statistical Institute meetings in Buenos Aires in November the total was again given as 18. But in a speech to a nationwide conference on the census work held in Beijing in January 1982 he said the census would measure 19 “demographic factors.” See State Council Population Census Office, “Guanyu Wuxi renkou pucha shidian diaocha dengji he shougong huizong jieduan gongzuo de zongjie” (“A Summing Up of the Wuxi Population Census Pretest and Hand Tabulation Work”), Tongji (Statistics), No. 2, 10 06 1981, p. 16Google Scholar; Chengrui, Li, “Renkou pucha – youguan jiben guoqing de daguimo diaocha yanjiu” (“Population Census – A Large Scale Investigation and Study of the Basic Conditions in the Country”), Renmin ribao (RMRB) (People's Daily), Beijing, 11 08 1981, p. 5Google Scholar; –, Population Censuses in China, SSB, Beijing, 09 1981, p. 6Google Scholar; and Xinhua-English, , Beijing, 12 01 1982Google Scholar, Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), No. 11, 18 January 1982, p.K18.

3. State Council Population Office, loc. cit. and Chengrui, Li, Population Censuses in China, pp. 5–13.Google Scholar

4. Kunming radio, Yunnan Provincial Service, 22 November 1980, Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS), No. 77,089, 31 December 1980, p. 107.

5. Xinhua, Beijing, 24 March 1981, FBIS, No. 56, 24 March 1981, p. L1.

6. Ibid.

7. Xinhua-English, Beijing, 12 January 1982, loc. cit. and Kannisto, Vaino and Yu, Y. C., “Plans and Preparations for the 1982 Population Census of China,” paper distributed at the general conference of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population,Manila, Philippines,7–16 December 1981, p. 3Google Scholar.

8. Kannisto, Vaino and Yu, Y. C., loc. cit.Google Scholar

9. See the review of the local “recheck” procedures in 1953 in Aird, John S., “Population Growth,” Chap. 4 in Eckstein, Alexander, Galenson, Walter, and Liu, Ta-chung, eds., Economic Trends in Communist China (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1968), pp. 239–242.Google Scholar

10. Chengrui, Li, Population Censuses in China, pp. 10–13.Google Scholar

11. More data from both censuses have been provided to demographers in Chinese population research institutions but they are apparently not permitted to publish these data.

12. Sources differ on this point. The most recent account promises a manual tabulation of numbers of households, the total population, the population of provinces, central municipalities, and autonomous regions by sex, and the population by nationality. See “Renkou pucha shi wen” (“Ten Questions on the Population Census”), (Li Chengrui's answers to questions by a Xinhua reporter), Xinhua, 17 January 1982, RMRB, 18 January 1982, p. 4.

13. This was the plan as of about November 1981. There may-be some further delays because of the late arrival of the IBM computers in China, which.were held up by U.S. and NATO export clearance procedures.

14. The information about tabulation and publication plans comes from Population Division, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific, Asian-Pacific Population Programme News, Special Issue 1981, p. 24Google Scholar; Xinhua-English, Beijing, 9 March 1981, FBIS, No. 46, 10 March 1981, p. L1; and Kannisto, and Yu, , op. cit. p. 8.Google Scholar

15. See State Council Population Census Office, op. cit. and Li Chengrui, Population Censuses in China.

16. KYODO-English, Tokyo, 2 October 1980, FBIS, No. 194, 3 October 1980, p. D1.

17. KYODO-English, Tokyo, 7 August 1980, FBIS, No. 155, 8 August 1980, p. L10.

18. Kannisto, and Yu, , op. cit. p. 1.Google Scholar

19. Analysis of the available 1964 data shows that the 1964 census total is too low to be comparable with the previous official population totals without a net loss of at least 23 million people during the food crisis of 1960 and 1961, which is much more severe than the losses suggested by the official vital rates. Also, the 1964 census age distribution has too large a proportion at ages 0 to 4 to reflect even the loss indicated by the official vital rates for the crisis period. In fact, the 1964 census age distribution is incompatible with the 1964 census population total. See Aird, John S., Reconstruction of an Official Data Model of the Population of ChinaGoogle Scholar, U.S. Bureau of the Census, forthcoming.

20. Kannisto, and Yu, , op. cit. pp. 2–3.Google Scholar

21. Chengrui, Li, Population Censuses in China, p. 7.Google Scholar

22. This does not include the activists, of which there were some 20,000. The ratio of enumerators to population was somewhat higher in the Wuxi pretest than was expected in the general enumeration, when it was to be about 1 to 400 in urban and 1 to 200 in rural areas.

23. Most of the information on the Wuxi pretest comes either from State Council Population Census Office, op. cit. or from Chengrui, Li, Population Censuses in China.Google Scholar Both accounts are without precedent among Chinese sources on statistical work for the amount of factual detail they contain and the objective manner in which they describe accomplishments and problems alike. These are the latest in a series of recent indications that statistical work in China is rapidly becoming more professional.

24. There seems to be some disagreement among various sources about the two central census organs. The description given here is based mainly on the account given by Kannisto, and Yu, (op cit. p. 2).Google Scholar But one Chinese source says that Chen Muhua is “head” of the “census office under the State Council.” See “Nationwide Census,” Beijing Review, No. 14, 6 April 1981, p. 6. Another says that she is “in charge of the census.” See Xinhua-English, , Beijing, 9 03 1981, loc cit.Google Scholar

25. Xinhua, , Beijing, 24 03 1981, loc cit.Google Scholar

26. Chengrui, Li, Population Censuses in China, p. 13.Google Scholar

27. Kunming radio, 22 November 1980, loc. cit.

28. Changsha radio, Hunan Provincial Service, 8 05 1981Google Scholar, FBIS, No. 92, 13 May 1981, p. P1.

29. Fujian Provincial Population Census Office, “Sheng renkou pucha bangongshi zhuren huiyi yanjiu bushu zhuajing jinxing renkou pucha gongzuo” (“Conference of Directors of Population Census Offices in Fujian Province Studies and Makes Arrangements for Grasping Population Census Work”), Fujian ribao, Fuzhou,18 may 1981, p. 1.Google Scholar

30. “Wosheng zhaokai disanci renkou pucha Taiyuan shidian xianchanghui” (“Shanxi Province Held the Third Population Census Taiyuan Pretest Field Conference”), Shanxi ribao, Taiyuan,6 September 1981, p. 1.Google Scholar

31. Heilongjiang started in Anda County, Hubei in Yunmeng County, and Ningxia in Helan County. See Chengrui, Li, loc. cit.Google Scholar; Wuhan radio, Hubei Provincial Service, 5 August 1981, FBIS, No. 157, 14 August 1981, p. P4; and “Woqu disanci renkou pucha shidian gongzuo jieshu”) “Ningxia Region's Pretest Work for the Third Population Census Concluded”), Ningxia ribao, Yinchuan, 25 11 1981, p. 1.Google Scholar Jiangsu chose Lianyun, Xuguo, and Houzui towns in Lianyun and Yan districts. See Fusheng, Liu, “Sheng renkou pucha shidian gongzuo zai Lianyungang zhankai” (“Jiangsu's Population Census Pretests Started in Lianyungang”), Xinhua ribao (XHRB), Nanjing, 22 08 1981, p. 1.Google Scholar

32. Commentator, “Seriously Do a Good Job in Population Census,” Sichuan ribao (SCRB), Chengdu, 19 09 1981Google Scholar, FBIS, No. 194, 7 October 1981, p. Q2.

33. Fujian Provincial Population Census Office, loc. cit.Google Scholar

34. “Wosheng renkou pucha zhunbei gongzuo zhengzai ji ji jinxing” (“Zhejiang Province is Actively Carrying Out Preparatory Work for the Population Census”), Zhejiang ribao, Hangzhou, 9 06 1981, p. 1.Google Scholar

35. “Yiding yao ba disanci renkou pucha gongzuo gaohao wosheng zhaokai renkou pucha shidian xianchang huiyi” (“The Third Population Census Must Be Done Well; Guangdong Held a Population Census Field Test Conference”), Nanfang ribao (NFRB), Guangzhou, 12 07 1981, p. 2.Google Scholar

36. “Quansheng disanci renkou pucha Jining shidian xianchang huiyi qiangdiao jiaqiang lingdao zuohao renkou pucha zhunbei” (“The Third Population Census Provincial Field Test Conference Stresses the Strengtening of Leadership to Do Census Preparations Well”), Dazhong ribao, Jining, 13 07 1981, p. 1.Google Scholar

37. Su Guizhang, “Shengzhengfu zhaokai renkou pucha gongzuo huiyi yanjiu bushu youguan shiyi zhuajing jinxing mingnian renkou pucha zhunbei gongzuo” (“The Jiangsu Provincial Government Convened a Population Census Work Conference to Study and to Make Arrangements for Grasping Tightly the Preparatory Work for Next Year's Population Census”), XHRB, 2 05 1981, p. 1.Google Scholar

38. Xinhua, , Beijing, 17 01 1982Google Scholar, FBIS, No. 11, 18 January 1982, p. K19. All areas covered by pilot censuses will be re-enumerated during the full-scale enumeration.

39. Xinhua, , Beijing, 24 03 1981, loc. cit.Google Scholar

40. “Woguo jiang jinxing disanci quanguo renkou pucha” (“China Will Carry Out Her Third Nationwide Population Census”), Guangming ribao (GMRB), Beijing, 10 03 1981, p. 1.Google Scholar

41. Xinhua, , Beijing, 17 01 1982, loc. cit.Google Scholar

42. Guizhang, Su, loc. cit.Google Scholar

43. Commentator, “Tigao renshi jiaqiang lingdao gaohao renkou pucha” (“Heighten Awareness, Strengthen Leadership, and Do Well in Population Census”), XHRB, 2 05 1981, p. 1.Google Scholar

44. Xinhua, , Beijing, 24 03 1981, loc. cit.Google Scholar; Commentator, SCRB, 19 September 1981, loc. cit.; Commentator, “Zhuajin zuohao renkou pucha zhunbei gongzuo” (“Grasp Well the Population Census Preparatory Work”), NFRB, 12 07 1981, p. 2Google Scholar; “Benshi ji ji zhunbei renkou pucha” (“Shanghai Actively Prepares for the Population Census”), Wenhui bao, Shanghai, 30 08 1981, p. 2Google Scholar; and Commentator, “Usher In the Third National Census,” RMRB, 18 01 1982Google Scholar, FBIS, No. 20, 29 01 1982, p. K3.Google Scholar

45. Commentator, “A Census Essential to Economic Readjustment and the Four Modernizations,“ RMRB, 25 03 1981Google Scholar, FBIS, No. 65, 6 April 1981, p. K10.

46. Xinhua, , Beijing, 16 01 1982, loc. cit.Google Scholar

47. Chengrui, Li, Population Censuses in China, p. 18.Google Scholar

48. The registration system was installed in one city after another from 1949 onward, but it was not extended to rural areas until 1954–56. The 1953 census records were used as a basis for the national registration system, established at that time.

49. The 1960 urban population figure is given in Zehou, Zhang and Yuguang, Chen, “Shilun woguo renkou jiegou yu guomin jingji fazhan de guanxi” (“The Relationship Between Population Structure and Economic Development in China”), Zhongguo shehui kexue (Social Sciences in China), No. 4, 10 07 1981, pp. 40–42.Google Scholar The 1964 urban figure is from Chengrui, Li, Population Censuses in China, p. 5.Google Scholar A 1957 urban total of 99·5 million is derived from data in Chengxiu, Xue, “Tentative Treatise on the Relationship Between Increase of Urban Population in Socialist Cities and Development of Agricultural and Industrial Population,” GMRB, 7 10 1963Google Scholar, American Consulate General, Hong Kong, Survey of China Mainland Press, No. 3093,4 11 1963, p. 2.Google Scholar

50. Fujian Provincial Population Census Office, loc. cit.Google Scholar

51. Chengrui, Li, Population Censuses in China, p. 22.Google Scholar

52. Xinhua, , Beijing, 24 03 1981, loc. cit.Google Scholar

53. Kannisto, and Yu, , op. cit. p. 5.Google Scholar

54. State Council Population Census Office, op. cit. p. 17.Google Scholar

55. Chengrui, Li, Population Censuses of China, p. 18Google Scholar; and Kannisto, and Yu, , loc. cit.Google Scholar

56. “Renkou pucha shi wen,” loc. cit.

57. Population Division, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific, loc. cit.Google Scholar

58. Commentator, XHRB, 2 05 1981, loc. cit.Google Scholar

59. State Council Population Census Office, loc. cit.Google Scholar

60. “Shiying quanguo renkou pucha xuyao nianba sheng shi qu diannaozhan qiyi qianxi quanbu zhuangcheng” (“The Computer Centers in 28 Privinces, Municipalities, and Regions Will Complete Their Installations Before 1 July to Accommodate the Needs of the Nationwide Population Census”), Xinhua, , Beijing, 15 01 1982Google Scholar, Ta Kung Pao, Hong Kong, 16 01 1982, p. 3.Google Scholar

61. See, for example, Zhengzhi, Zhu, “Dangqian woguo renkou wenti ji qi fazhan qushi” (“China's Population Problem at Present and Its Trend of Development”), Jingji kexue (Economic Science), No. 3, 1980, p. 58Google Scholar; Shuyi, Liu, “Tongji yao zhunque, xu li tongjifa” (“Statistics Must Be Accurate; A Law on Statistics Must Be Promulgated”), RMRB, 21 12 1980, p. 3Google Scholar; Yefang, Sun, “Consolidate Statistics Work; Reform the Statistical System,” Jingji guanti (Economic Management), 15 02 1981Google Scholar, FBIS, No. 58,26 March 1981, p. L6; and Chengrui, Li, Population Censuses in China, p. 17.Google Scholar