China has conducted four population censuses since 1949. A large amount of
important information about population, education, employment, migration and
urbanization was collected in the most recent 1990 census. This paper will examine
main features and key issues of the Chinese population census and the census data.
Some fundamental considerations of building a computerized census data system and
the ways that such a system might be developed will be discussed. The main
objectives and features of the on-going Population GIS of China project will also be
examined.