Fw: H-ASIA: Query on Chinese agricultural statistics - response

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Monika Lehner" <monika.lehner@UNIVIE.AC.AT>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2013 1:46 PM
Subject: H-ASIA: Query on Chinese agricultural statistics - response


> H-ASIA
> February 5, 2012
>
> Query on Chinese agricultural statistics - response
> ******************************************************************
> From: "Tao Yang" <taoyang@rci.rutgers.edu>
>
> Hi,
>
> Prof. Guha's query piqued my interest as an information professional. So I
> looked into some Chinese local gazetteers published in the post-Mao era,
> which actually have fairly detailed information about how PRC's
> agricultural statistical system has evolved at different localities since
> 1949. These sources seem to suggest that the Chinese government made no
> efforts in the 1980s or later to correct the Mao-era statistics. However,
> shortly after the Great Leap Forward (in 1962), some provinces (e.g.
> Guangdong) reportedly took steps to revise the greatly exaggerated numbers
> from the GLF years, while no revision or correction was mentioned in the
> gazetteers from other provinces.
>
> I know this only indicates a possibility of some revisions following the
> GLF. To make sure if any revisions actually made their way into
> publications, one has to compare the annual statistics from the GLF years
> and cumulative statistics from later years.
>
> Another thing I learned from the Chinese sources is that the statistical
> system in the Mao-era was volatile and went through major changes every
> few years. In 1954, the statistics departments in the government took over
> agricultural statistics - before that they were the responsibility of
> "other units", presumably the agricultural departments, so the statistical
> methods and procedures probably changed at the same time. Then there were
> the wide-spread exaggerations during the GLF and revisions that might have
> followed in some places. The statistical reporting came to a halt in 1966
> due to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution and did not resume until
> 1970 or 1971. The numbers from 1966 to 1970 may have been retrospectively
> compiled after the resumption of regular reporting function. So, it seems
> that the numbers from all those years are problematic, and those from the
> GLF period and the first half of Cultural Revolution might be the least
> reliable.
>
> My 2 cents...
>
> Tao Yang
> East Asian Librarian, Rutgers University
>
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