译者 HiPeter
China’s National Bureau of Statistics has a tough time. If they are not being castigated for exaggerated wage data, then it’s doubts about the reliability of GDP or accusations that the consumer price index understates the true increase in prices.
中国国家统计局日子过的挺艰难。如果他们因为夸张的收入数据没有被一直责骂，后来对它的有关GDP的可信度和居民消费价格指数低估与真实的价格增长也会（被责骂的）。
There’s even a saying on the Chinese internet that “the comrades in the statistical bureau don’t buy vegetables.” The implication is that if they did they would know the true extent of price increases (in Chinese).
在中国互联网上曾有个说法“统计局的同志不买菜”。暗示着如果他们买菜了他们会知道真实的物价增长幅度。
Those doubts can now be laid to rest, at least a little.
这些质疑现在正在被淡忘，至少有那么一点。
At an open day hosted by the statisticians in Beijing Tuesday, Mrs. Wang from the Shanxi provincial statistics office confirmed in the margins of the event that she did buy vegetables. “If I didn’t what would I eat?” she replied.
在周二北京的一个统计员举办的开放日，从山西省统计办公室来的王女士围绕着这个活动证实了她确实有买菜。“不买我吃啥？”她回答。
The event was part of a broader effort to open China’s statistical system, long criticized for being opaque, to the public and the media. Senior officials, from NBS chief Ma Jiantang on down, fielded questions from the media, the public and online participants.
这个活动是一项公开中国统计制度更广泛的活动的一部分，因为对公众和媒介不透明这个制度被批评很久了。最高长官，统计局局长马建堂深入群众，当场回答了媒体/公众和在线网友的问题。
One question from the floor was essentially a variation on the vegetable joke: “Why is there such a big gap between peoples’ perception of high inflation and the relatively low numbers for changes in consumer prices reported by the NBS?”
一个在场人员的问题实际上是蔬菜笑话的变体：“为什么在群众对于高通胀的看法和统计局公布的消费物价变化中相对较低的数字之间会有这么大一个差距”
The answer from Pang Xiaolin of the NBS: Everyone’s consumption basket is different, so some people will see prices rising faster than the average recorded by the CPI. People also buy food in different places, and might see prices rising sharply in their neck of the woods when prices elsewhere rise only more modestly.
国家统计局的庞晓林给了答案：每个人的购物篮是不同的，所以一些人会看到价格增长比CPI记录的平均数更快。人们也在不同的地方买食品，并且可能会看到当其他地方增长更温和一些时在他们的附近涨价却很快。
(Not on Mr. Pang’s list of reasons, but perhaps more important, is the absence of property prices from the CPI basket. With rising property prices a major focus of attention for China’s consumers, their absence from the CPI basket means there is often a mismatch between perceptions of inflation and the numbers published by the NBS.)
并不是庞先生列出的理由，而是或许更为重要的，是CPI指标组中的房产价格缺失。随着不断增长的房产价格指标成为中国消费者的主要关注热点，它们在CPI指标中的缺失意味着在通胀观点和国家统计局公布的数字之间在大多数情况下的不匹配。
Another topic of interest for the audience was the math behind China’s official household income data. A survey in 2008 by Prof Wang Xiaolu suggested that the average annual disposable income of China’s richest 10% was 139,000 yuan, more than 300% higher than the official 43,000 yuan figure. Xu Xianchun, a NBS official, explained that the richest 10% were represented in the survey, and that problems with collecting data on the rich were not unique to China.
另一个观众感兴趣的主题是中国官方家庭收入数据背后的数学公式。2008年王小鲁教授的一份调研表明，中国最富有的那10%的群体每人税后年平均可支出收入13万9000元，比官方4万3000元的数字多3倍。徐宪春，一名国家统计局官员，解释说最富有的那10%在调研中被不合理地描述出来，以及有关对富有人群的数据采集问题不只在中国出现。
One factor he did not mention – the “gray income” China’s rich receive from dubious sources and which they are typically unwilling to divulge to the statisticians.
他没有提及的一个因素——中国富人从有风险的来源中拿到的“灰色收入”，并且这是他们一般不愿透露给统计员的。
“You can’t get fat from eating a single mouthful” goes a saying in China. Change takes time and a transparent statistical system won’t be built in a day, or even a year. But an increased willingness to engage with the public and the press, and to explain how the data is put together in greater detail, at least suggests things might be moving in the right direction.
“一口吃不成胖子”，中国的谚语说。改变需要时间并且一项透明的统计制度不会一天建起来，或者即便是一年的时间。但是不断增加的与公众和媒介接触的愿望和在更多的细节上去解释数据是怎样整理的，至少表明一切会朝向正确的方向发展。
– Tom Orlik
– Tom Orlik
本文由自动聚合程序取自网络，内容和观点不代表数字时代立场
