When China starts counting - the WTO column

(later also at Chinabiz)

When China held a few years ago its nationwide census I was mildly hopeful it would at least create a neat opportunity to illustrate my reports and findings with a more or less authoritative set of data. When millions of bean counters hit the streets, I stayed at home, eager to do my bit for a trustworthy census.
They never came to count me.
Since then also my academically more qualified friends have set me straight: the national census did not make much sense, scientifically. In that way it fits into a neat Chinese tradition of producing figures.

Nowadays I indulge myself in a deep-rooted cynicism regarding any ‘official’ figure I get. When the world outside China gets into a wave of indignation because the ministry of culture announces it has closed down 1,600 internet cafes, I wonder how many are really closed down. Of course, one or two they needed to close down to provide a much needed photo-opportunity, but nothing close to 1,600.
Last year the National Bureau of Statistics did an effort to destroy the certainty that also the provincial GDP-figures were products of political manipulation. For years all the provincial GDP-figures were higher than the national average, for good reason, since the provincial authorities’ bonuses depended on those figures. Now the Bureau told us they would in the future issue the figures on this statistical miracle. Because the central government actually wants to slow down the economy a bit, the annual bonus systems might have changed, so the provincial officials do not mind anymore when somebody else fabricates those figures. But the basis for those figures would be as unreliable as before.

So, it was rather obvious that China’s citizen number 1.3 billion should be born in Beijing. China has many more uncounted citizens than it can admit, exceeding the official number of Chinese. So it was a pure propaganda-exercise – supported by domestic and foreign media – for its birthrate control policies. You do not want all those journalists to actually travel to Yunnan to watch the official number 1.3 billion, it had to happen on their doorsteps.
And when the National Tourism Administration claims the number of foreign tourists in 2004 have surged 20 percent compared to 2003, while they have spend 50 percent more in terms of money, SARS in 2003 was not mentioned. And even then, who cares about those fabrications?

You might not have noticed it, but China has held its first National Economic Census, in a desperate effort to find out what is really going on in its economy. "According to its guidelines, this economic census encompasses all individuals and enterprises with fixed working sites that are registered in local industrial and commercial departments, regardless of the type of work they do or their working environment," the propaganda machines roared.
This time I did not stay at home but of course went to the office to see whether they would include me this time. Again, they did not count me in.

Fons Tuinstra