Beijing: China will conduct a survey of
foreign residents living in the country for the first time as
part of its national population census.
The population of foreigners is being incorporated as per
the guidelines proposed by the United Nations. The information
of those surveyed will be kept confidential, official
news agency Xinhua reported.
However, foreigners on short-term business or
sight-seeing trips will not be covered by the census beginning
November 1.
Some foreigners, however, has expressed their hesitation
due to concerns on safety of personal information and possible
language barriers.
Jung Jae Hyo, from the Republic of Korea, has been
working in China for the past one-and-a-half years.
"It`ll be difficult for my family to communicate with the
Chinese government workers as they cannot speak Korean. And
how can the census-takers guarantee our information won`t be
leaked?" he was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
However, a new regulation, which is to take effect in
June, clearly states that the information of the surveyed
should be kept confidential and anyone who leaks the
information will be punished according to law.
Zhou Mianxian, a top statistics bureau official, said
census-takers will be accompanied by interpreters while taking
the details of foreign residents.
The census will collect data like foreigner`s name, age,
gender, nationality, educational attainment, purpose and
duration of stay.
The questions in the questionnaire are simpler than those
for Chinese citizens and are written in Chinese and English.
China has begun conducting a national population census
every ten years since 1990. The previous five censuses only
covered Chinese nationals on the mainland.
PTI
