Monthly economic indicators are used for a variety of purposes, from studying business cycles to determining economic policy and making informed business decisions. China’s published monthly industrial output statistics could hardly be more confusing, with changes in variables, in coverage, in...

China has become a popular geographic area of research. Researchers make extensive use of Chinese official statistics, but these statistics are often not well understood. This article first clarifies three major issues that affect a wide range of Chinese statistics—from output and employment...