Foreign residents included in sixth national census survey
Source: Xinhua |
May 29, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FOREIGN residents will be surveyed for the first time in China's upcoming population census beginning on November 1, the Regulation on National Population Census said yesterday.
The national census aims to survey "each natural person" including foreign residents in China at the time of the census, said an explanatory statement of the regulation which was jointly issued by the State Council's Legislative Affairs Office and the National Bureau of Statistics.
Foreigners on short-term business or sight-seeing trips will not be covered by the census, it said.
China has been conducting a national population census every ten years since 1990. The previous five censuses only covered Chinese nationals on the mainland.
Victoria Briton, an American teacher at Qingdao University in east China's Shandong Province, said, "The government should collect the information about legally residing foreigners in China, so that they will have a good knowledge about who is living in this country."
"This is what the American government does," she added.
It has become a common practice in various countries to incorporate foreigners in their population census, and the move was also proposed by the United Nations, according to yesterday's government statement.
Some foreigners, however, have expressed their hesitation due to concerns over safety of personal information and possible language barriers.
Hyo Jung-jae of South Korea has been working in China for one and a half years. "It'll be difficult for my family to communicate with the Chinese government workers as they cannot speak Chinese," he said. "And how can the census takers guarantee our information won't be leaked?"
According to the pilot survey questionnaire for foreigners, the census will collect data on a foreigner's name, age, gender, nationality, educational attainment, purpose and duration of stay.
The questions are simpler than those for Chinese citizens and are written in Chinese and English.
The new regulation, which is to take effect in June, clearly states that the information of those surveyed should be kept confidential and anyone who leaks the information will be punished according to law.
The last census in the world's most populous country a decade ago found there were 1.29533 billion people.
The national census aims to survey "each natural person" including foreign residents in China at the time of the census, said an explanatory statement of the regulation which was jointly issued by the State Council's Legislative Affairs Office and the National Bureau of Statistics.
Foreigners on short-term business or sight-seeing trips will not be covered by the census, it said.
China has been conducting a national population census every ten years since 1990. The previous five censuses only covered Chinese nationals on the mainland.
Victoria Briton, an American teacher at Qingdao University in east China's Shandong Province, said, "The government should collect the information about legally residing foreigners in China, so that they will have a good knowledge about who is living in this country."
"This is what the American government does," she added.
It has become a common practice in various countries to incorporate foreigners in their population census, and the move was also proposed by the United Nations, according to yesterday's government statement.
Some foreigners, however, have expressed their hesitation due to concerns over safety of personal information and possible language barriers.
Hyo Jung-jae of South Korea has been working in China for one and a half years. "It'll be difficult for my family to communicate with the Chinese government workers as they cannot speak Chinese," he said. "And how can the census takers guarantee our information won't be leaked?"
According to the pilot survey questionnaire for foreigners, the census will collect data on a foreigner's name, age, gender, nationality, educational attainment, purpose and duration of stay.
The questions are simpler than those for Chinese citizens and are written in Chinese and English.
The new regulation, which is to take effect in June, clearly states that the information of those surveyed should be kept confidential and anyone who leaks the information will be punished according to law.
The last census in the world's most populous country a decade ago found there were 1.29533 billion people.
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