The study used an organizing framework that includes macro-level characteristics of Chinese society, factors that affect the quality and quantity of Chinese crime statistics, and specific problems related to the comparative use of Chinese crime statistics. The article argues that Chinese crime statistics are suspect as a measure of criminal misconduct, more so than in Western countries, but that they nevertheless can be quite useful when applied as a measure of organizational processes reflecting social control. The study framework includes four general macro-level characteristics of Chinese society: (1) legal philosophy, a mixture of socialist law and Confucian legal tradition; (2) cultural values; (3) political ideology; and (4) technological infrastructure, i.e., the degree to which China has the appropriate infrastructure (telephones, telecommunications equipment and technical expertise) required for the compilation of a national database. Figure, tables, notes, references