Introduction

Abstract

It is a simple fact that statistics on a developing country as big as China, with as many people as it has, can be a bit unreliable. Even in smaller, more economically advanced countries, statistics are an estimate of the real situation. It is therefore not the contention of this book that China’s statistics, or other information, ought to be more accurate. The contention is that understanding information about China requires understanding how and why the country’s statistics are defined, gathered and published, and the reason for their inaccuracies, inflations or deflations. As China’s economic star continues to rise, the number of people who need to understand this also rises. Hence this book.