This Statistics Directorate and Centre for Co-operation with Non-Members Working Paper N. 6 - 2003/3 contains a detailed description of the methodology used in the compilation of some key short-term economic statistics of China. The subjects covered are: national accounts, industrial production, commodity output, business tendency surveys, consumer sentiment surveys, construction, retail sales, labour, wages, prices, public finance, domestic finance, external finance, foreign trade and balance of payments. Methodological information is presented according to the order of the OECD monthly publication, Main Economic Indicators.