The principal sources of information on Communist China’s population are the census of June 30, 1953, the system of population registration, and a number of vital rates surveys.10
The 1953 Census
In January, 1953, the Peking Government made known its decision to take a population census for China. On April 6, 1953, “Measures for National Census and Registration of Population,” containing eighteen articles, was published.11 According to the prefatory statement of the census, the purpose was “to prepare for the election of the National People’s Congress and the local people’s congresses at all levels, to conduct satisfactorily the registration of the electorate, and to acquire accurate census figures for the nation’s economic and cultural construction.”12
A central census office was to be organized by the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Public Security, the State Statistical Bureau, and other relevant departments, but placed under the charge of the Ministry of Interior. Similar organizations were to be established at provincial and lower levels.13 The People’s Revolutionary Military Council was in charge of the enumeration of the armed forces. Overseas Chinese, diplomatic personnel stationed abroad, and students studying in other countries were to be estimated, respectively, by the Commission of Overseas Chinese Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Higher Education.14
The census schedule was a simple one. It listed only five questions: (1) relation to the head of household; (2) name and address, (3) sex, (4) age, and (5) nationality (i.e., whether Han race or belonging to a national minority group). Since the traditional Chinese method of counting age is different from the Western method based on the Gregorian calendar, the census stipulated that age should be calculated in the Western manner.15
The members of each household were divided into permanent residents (ch’ang-chu jen-ko) and absentees (wai-ch’u jen-ko), and only permanent residents were counted.16 For government offices, the army, schools, factories, hospitals, and other institutions, special schedules were issued, on which permanent residents only were to be marked.17
The date of the census was fixed as of June 30, 1953; that is, whatever time the enumeration took place, the figures were estimated to be valid for the date of June 30, 1953.18 Reportedly, 2,579,530 cadres were involved in the census-taking.19 Most of the cadres were government workers, employees of state enterprises, and staff and students from universities, who were released from their regular duties and transferred to the census offices on a temporary basis.20
The original timetable contained in the census instructions required that the census-taking was to be completed before the end of September, 1953, that local returns should reach the provincial and municipal offices by the end of October, and that the reports on provincial totals should be submitted to the Central Census Office by November 15.21 Actually, the census count lasted about one year. In March, 1954, the Central Census Office issued a circular announcing that, at that late date, 40 percent of the country had not yet completed the census.22 The preliminary census results were revealed by Teng Hsiao-p’ing on June 19, 1954, in his report to the Committee of the Central People’s Government.23 Revised and more detailed results were announced in a communiqué by the State Statistical Bureau on November 1, 1954.24 The census findings were reported as complete and accurate. A sample check of 52,953,400 persons in 343 hsien and cities of 23 provinces, 5 municipalities, and one autonomous region (accounting for 9 percent of the enumerated population) indicated that duplications amounted to only 0.139 percent, while omissions were only 0.255 percent.25
The System of Population Registration
Since the 1953 census results were published, some other demographic data on mainland China have been made available. These data include total population figures for 1949 to 1957, provincial population figures for 1954 and 1957, population figures for a number of cities in 1957, and some vital statistics for particular cities during the period 1949-57. The major source of these data is the system of population registration.
The Russian expert who served in China as an advisor on the 1953 census reported that a system of population reporting was initiated at the inception of the communist regime.26 But the formalized system of population registration was begun only in July, 1951, when the Ministry of Public Security promulgated the urban registration regulations.27 These regulations called for the registration of all urban residents except military forces, security police, and diplomatic personnel. Births were to be reported within one month and deaths within 24 hours. Persons who moved from one city to another were obliged to report to the police station to obtain removal permits before departure, and their permits were to be surrendered to the proper authorities at the place of new residence within three days after arrival. Temporary visitors were required to report their presence to the local police station if they stayed in one place longer than three days. In addition, the regulations required the reporting of changes in the composition of household occasioned by marriage, divorce, separation, adoption, merging of families, and other reasons.
The system of registration was extended to rural areas in June, 1955, when the State Council issued a directive concerning establishment of a permanent system of population registration.28 The system was to be the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior, ...
