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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2011
The 1953 Chinese census reported a total population on the Chinese mainland of 582.6 million. This figure came as a surprise to Western observers, since the population figures most frequently quoted for China during the preceding twenty years had been on the order of magnitude of “about 450 million,” the 1933 estimate of the League of Nations. Although the inadequacies of Chinese population statistics and their controversial nature are well known, some understanding of the latest figure is possible by viewing it in historical perspective. Such an analysis is here presented, and is confined to the 1953 census data referring to the size of the population and its distribution among the provinces.
1 League of Nations, Statistical Yearbook 1934–36 (1935), p. 21. The writer is greatly indebted to the late Dr. Eugene M. Kulischer and to Mr. Michael K. Roof for their advice and encouragement during the preparation of this paper.
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13 Unpublished papers from the 1940 Manchukuo census, U. S. Bureau of the Census.
14 The Industrialization of Japan and Manchukuo, 1930–40.
