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The Problem of Chinese Statistics
Chinese tendency toward numerical imprecision,
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| acceptable to anthropologists. One authority who described the "remarkable trait of the Chinese psychology" as it relates to numbers stated that there is a "complete indifference to the idea of quantity and a total disregard for any quantitative measurement in Chinese philosophical thinking. . . . The Chinese conceived of numbers as emblems . . ."1 The wording of this statement may seem dogmatic, but the point is well taken and, over the centuries, the thinking of the elite toward numbers has permeated and, in a sense, reinforced the attitudes of the Chinese peasant. This has nothing to do with ability or some inherent racial deficiency. On the contrary, as one nineteenth century traveler observed: |
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The Chinese are as capable of learning minute accuracy in all things as any nation ever was-nay, more so, for they are endowed with infinite patience-but what we have to remark of this people is that, as at present constituted, they are free from the quality of accuracy and that they do not understand what it is. 2 |
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| The fact that the Chinese are known for talent in mathematics and other sciences should not be confused with their deficiencies in statistics. Sciences pursued by scholars are immune from the numerical nonchalance of the masses; statistics, on the other hand, are a product of many individuals, and can only be as good as the training and the attitudes of hundreds, thousands, or sometimes even millions of people responsible for collecting and processing the figures. |
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| It is important to make a clear distinction between lack of precision and corruption. Imprecision has been a permanent characteristic, while corruption tended to fluctuate over time: ". . . there were in Chinese history a good many examples of corrupt ages having been succeeded by periods of high moral tones."3 Foreign travelers who visited China over the past couple of hundred years were apt to complain loudly and picturesquely about corruption. Statements such as "We must ever recollect, in dealing with the Chinese, that the shibboleth of Western Chivalry-the scorn of a lie as a cowardly and dishonest thing-is to them unknown,"4 or that "the Chinaman delights in wrapping his mind in a tissue of false suggestion and deceit, for the pure love of misleading those with whom he came into contact"5 appear in numerous accounts of traders and travelers. But a native of any country is apt to take advantage of a foreign visitor or an inexperienced businessman, so that these somewhat derogatory statements do not really apply to the disregard for precision rather than premeditated falsification. |
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| The most concrete illustrations of the lack of precision in Chinese daily life relate to the use of weights and measures. "Foreigners find, to their great exasperation, that a foot, a pint or a pound is about a foot, about a pint, or about a pound."6 The Chinese measure of area, the mou, varies not only from region to region, but also over time. Harvard's Professor Perkins points out some of these variations in his historical study of Chinese agriculture.7 For example, at present the mou is equal to .1647 of an acre, but over the past centuries it has fluctuated between .1133 and .1669 acres per mou-a difference of more than 45 percent. Perkins also lists eight regional variations in the size of the mou that existed during the 1929-33 period alone, such as spring wheat area-.152 acres; Szechwan |
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1 Amaury de Riencourt, The Soul of China, Coward-McCann, New York, 1958, p. 83.
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2 Arthur H. Smith, Chinese Characteristics, Fleming H. Revell, New York, 1894.
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| 3 Carl Crow, The Chinese Are Like That, Harper Bros., New York, 1939, p. 197. |
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4 G. W. Cooke, China, G. Routledge, London, 1859, p. 413.
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| 5 Alexis S. Krausse, China in Decay, Chapman & Hall, London, 1900, p. 47. |
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6 Crow, op cit., p. 88.
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| 7 D. H. Perkins, Agricultural Development in China, 1868-1968, Aldine, Chicago, pp. 220-221. 1969, |
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Posted: May 08, 2007 08:35 AM
Last Updated: May 11, 2007 05:38 AM
Last Reviewed: May 08, 2007 08:35 AM
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