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China Population Information and Research Centre traces
its origins back to the 1980s, when the government realized
the importance of population information work and made it
an important component in the country's population and family
planning programmes. That work has been to collect, process,
analyse, study and disseminate information on population
and family planning, which is of great significance towards
helping China to achieve its strategic population goals.
To initiate this work, the government, with financial assistance
from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), established
the China Population Information Centre (CPIC) in May 1980,
attached to the State Family Planning Commission. It was
renamed the China Population Information and Research Centre
(CPIRC) in 1989.
As the need for population information is
constantly increasing in the implementation of the country's
population and family planning programmes, regional population
information centres were set up in the period 1984-1985
in six regions of the country to carry out local population
information work based on the local conditions of each area.
The regional centres are located in Tianjin, Shanghai, Liaoning,
Guangdong, Sichuan and Shaanxi. Corresponding organizations
were also set up at this time: the family planning commissions
of Jiangsu Province and Harbin City set up population information
research institutes. Also, the Library of the Nanjing College
for Population Management and the Jilin Population Information
Station became members.
The library at CPIRC provides a solid knowledge
base from which professionals can draw data and information
for improving China's population policies and programme.
In September 1986, the China Population Information Network
(China POPIN) was formed in response to the need for contacting
related population information organizations within China.
The aforementioned organizations comprise the network's
core members. China POPIN is currently networking with dozens
of members, including population institutes in various universities,
social science academies and schools.
The main reasons for forming China POPIN were to strengthen
the national effort to implement the family planning programme,
to assist leaders in policy-making, to strengthen the population
sciences and to avoid wasteful duplication of investment
and effort. Through the network, extensive population information
is collected and classified quickly and accurately, thus
making full use of population information resources and
sharing the findings of scientific research.
To further develop China POPIN, the China POPIN Steering
Committee was set up in April 1989. Its aims are to reinforce
academic cooperation and coordination among the member organizations,
and to develop some commonly needed basic information so
as to fully utilize the overall research results and conserve
both financial and human resources involved in this effort.
Areas of concentration include a counseling service for
policy-making, research, editing, translation, material
collection and data processing, among others.
As a member of global POPIN and Asia-Pacific POPIN, China
POPIN has also played an active role in the activities of
various international and regional population information
networks. Each member of China POPIN is independent, having
the authority and ability to conduct population information
work on its own without reference to Beijing. China POPIN
helps to organize, promote cooperation and build contacts
among the members in an effort to enable them to be more
effective.
CPIRC, which since 1997 serves as the secretariat for
East and South-East Asia POPIN, is preparing itself for
the challenges of the future by further improving its information
and research services. Having already gained experience
from TCDC training programmes conducted for other Asia-Pacific
POPIN network members for the past several years, CPIRC
is able to train professionals in various aspects of information
management and modern information and communication technologies.
Also, through telecommunication links, it is already expanding
its access to and dissemination of population data and information
regionally and internationally. 'The Centre is also developing
its capability in other areas such as the production of
mufti-media, a powerful tool for improved communication
of specialized information messages. CPIRC has established
a local area network. Further, CPIRC is extending its reach
through the lnternet, having its own Web site with various
Web pages and databases available for access nationally
and internationally.
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China Population Information and
Research Centre
Purpose of organization:
CPIRC is a public-service institution affiliated with the
State Family Planning Commission of China. It collects,
studies and disseminates data and information on China's
population and family planning programmes; it also conducts
demographic research in addition to providing population
information services and counseling for policy-making on
population development and family planning. CPIRC also repackages
and publishes information materials and publications, provides
information through networks and conducts international
cooperation activities in the field of population and reproductive
health and family planning, and undertakes the tasks connected
with being Secretariat of China POPIN and of East and South-East
Asia POPIN
Personnel:
80 staff members, of whom 45 are professionals with degrees
ranging from the bachelor's level to Ph.D.
Resource base
Size of collection:
13,000 book titles, 120 periodical titles, 100 statistical
book titles
Classification system used:
Dewey Decimal Classification/Revised edition of AACR2
Thesaurus used:
Chinese-English Population Thesaurus
External databases:
POPLINE
lnformation-handling equipment:
Personal computer and standard office equipment
Products and services
Databases:
Data series of population censuses and surveys (available
on CPIRC's Web site), China Population and Family Planning
Literature Database and bibliographic database (in Chinese)
Publications and services:
China Population Today (in English), China Family Planning
Yearbook, Population and Family Planning, Population Abstracts,
translations, books/monographs
Types of users served:
Policy makers, programme planners and decision makers, programme
administrators and project managers, medical and social
welfare professionals, scientists, researchers, academicians/teachers,
students, information agencies and channelers
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