Central Instructions on Firmly Stopping the Indiscriminate Issuance of Statistical Forms and Reports (July 22, 1953)  To the various central ministries and commissions, the Party leadership groups of the Central People’s Government, and the central bureaus, sub-bureaus, and provincial and municipal Party committees:  Comrade Yang Shijie, Deputy Minister of the Rural Work Department of the North China Bureau, has submitted an excellent report. All cadres at or above the section chief level—covering the central, major regional, provincial/municipal, prefectural, and county levels—should read it carefully.  Statistical forms and reports issued by Party, government, and mass organizations at and above the county level have become rampant in the countryside, reaching a point of complete intolerance.  In view of this, the Central Committee instructs the various central ministries and commissions, the Party leadership groups of the Central People’s Government (with primary responsibility assigned to the State Statistical Bureau), as well as the central bureaus, sub-bureaus, and provincial and municipal Party committees, that upon receipt of these instructions they are to immediately follow the North China Bureau’s approach: designate specific personnel to investigate and analyze the issue of statistical forms and reports, separately announce which should be discontinued, retained, or improved, and formulate practical measures for simplifying and controlling such documents, thereby resolutely halting the serious practice of indiscriminate issuance.  The problem of excessive issuance of statistical forms and reports should be addressed in conjunction with the other four aspects of the “Five Excesses.” Attention should also be given concurrently to the issue of overabundant statistical reporting in urban areas.  These instructions and the accompanying document are to be published in the Party journal.  Issued by the Central Committee on July 22, 1953, based on Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.

Note [1]: Refers to Yang Shijie’s report dated May 23, 1953, to the North China Bureau concerning an inspection of rural statistical reporting. The report states that, pursuant to instructions from the North China Bureau, meetings were convened involving relevant departments of both the North China Bureau and the North China Administrative Committee specifically to examine the situation regarding forms sent to the countryside, with particular emphasis on the rural reporting practices in the Yuci Prefecture of Shanxi Province and Ding County in Hebei Province. It notes that the current chaotic state of numerous, overly complex rural forms has indeed reached an intolerable level. The main manifestations are as follows: (1) An excessive number of forms, imposing a heavy burden; (2) Complex content lacking clear priorities—attempting to cover every possible aspect yet yielding little useful information; (3) Requirements that are excessively high, divorced from reality, and set with impossibly tight deadlines, making completion virtually impossible; and (4) A pattern of top-down indiscriminate issuance coupled with bottom-up haphazard filling-in, including fabrication and arbitrary estimation, resulting in highly inaccurate data. The report points out that the proliferation of rural forms is a direct product of bureaucratism and localism, constituting one of the key components of the rural “Five Excesses.” Accordingly, rectifying this disorder should be regarded as an important part of the “New Three-Anti Campaign” and carried out simultaneously with efforts to combat the rural “Five Excesses.” With the exception of essential census projects, the general approach should be to hold investigative meetings supplemented by selective sample surveys. A sound system of statistical reporting must be established and strictly controlled, streamlining procedures and eliminating unnecessary complexity.