A Billion and Counting: China's Tricky Census

摘要

Officials try to keep politics out of the world's biggest enumeration as they gather data on mobility, fertility, and other sensitive demographic indicators. Beijing-It was a few minutes past midnight on 1 November when the police knocked on his door. "Census," they announced as their reason for rousting the young Beijing pedicab driver out of bed. The police were helping census takers locate migrant workers who might otherwise flee or avoid participating in the largest enumeration in history. But when the driver failed to produce the appropriate papers, he says the police also fined him $6 and threatened to send him back to his home in Henan province. "Their attitude was violent," says Bai, who gave only his last name. "They were not conscientious or considerate."