EDITOR’S NOTES

I. China Statistical Yearbook 2016 is an annual statistical publication, which reflects comprehensively the economic and social development of China. It covers data for 2015 and key statistical data in recent years and some historically important years at the national level and the local levels of province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the Central Government.

II. The Yearbook contains twenty-seven chapters : l. General Survey; 2. Population; 3. National Accounts; 4. Employment and Wages; 5. Prices; 6. People’s Living Conditions; 7. Government Finance; 8. Resources and Environment; 9. Energy; 10. Investment in Fixed Assets; 11. Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation; 12. Agriculture; 13. Industry; 14. Construction; 15. Wholesale and Retail Trades; 16. Transport, Postal and Telecommunication Services, and Software Industry; 17. Hotels, Catering Services and Tourism; 18. Financial Intermediation; 19. Real Estate; 20. Science and Technology; 21. Education; 22. Public Health and Social Services; 23. Culture and Sports; 24. Public Management, Social Security and Social Organizations; 25. Urban, Rural and Regional Development; 26. Main Social and Economic Indicators of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR); 27. Main Social and Economic Indicators of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR). Two chapters listed as Appendices are Main Social and Economic Indicators of Taiwan Province and Main Social and Economic Indicators of Other Countries/Regions.

To facilitate readers, the Brief Introduction at the beginning of each chapter provides a summary of the main contents of the chapter, data sources, statistical scope, statistical methods and historical changes. At the end of each chapter, Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators are included.

III. The national data in this book do not include those of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan Province, except for the divisions of administrative areas, the area of the national territory and forest resources and otherwise specified. In accordance with the principles set down in the Basic Law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the Basic Law of Macao Special Administrative Region, statistically Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland of China are three mutually independent regions, each following its own and different statistical systems and legal provisions in conducting statistical operations independently. Statistics on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region as included in this yearbook are provided by the Census and Statistics Department of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Statistics and Census Service of the Government of Macao Special Administrative Region respectively; and are edited by the National Bureau of Statistics.

IV. Eastern region, central region, western region and northeastern region in the Yearbook are divided as following:

Eastern 10 provinces (municipalities) include: Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong and Hainan;

Central 6 provinces include: Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan;

Western 12 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) include: Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang;

Northeastern 3 provinces include: Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang.

V. The units of measurement used in the Yearbook are internationally standard measurement units, and newly published and implemented Product Categories are uniformly used.

VI. Please refer to the newly published version of the Yearbook for updated historical data. Statistical discrepancies on totals and relative figures due to rounding are not adjusted in the Yearbook.

VII. Notations used in the Yearbook：(blank space) indicates that the data are unknown, or are not available; “#” indicates a major breakdown of the total; and “*”or “①”indicates footnotes at the end of the table. About the notations in the chapters of Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR, please refer to the brief introduction in relevant chapters.

VIII. In comparison with China Statistical Yearbook 2015, following revisions have been made in this new version in terms of the statistical contents and in editing: The chapter of “Real Estate” is moved next to “Financial Intermediation”, the chapter of “Transport, Postal and Telecommunication Services, and Software Industry” is moved prior to “Hotels, Catering Services and Tourism”; Of the chapter of “Population”, Life Expectancy at Birth is newly added; Of the chapter of “National Accounts”, data of GDP for each year are revised systematically as the programme of the reform of R&D expenditure accounting methodology. Of the chapter of “Prices”, Producer Price Indices for Industrial Products by Sector is by the industrial classification standard of 2011’s version; Of the chapter of “Industry”, basic indicators reflecting economic situations of industrial enterprises are properly added. According to the new statistical report system, the contents and relative statistical indicators about railway are adjusted.