On Oct. 1, the Chinese government will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic. The occasion has inspired all sorts of unlikely tributes -- including poetic offerings from workers at the National Bureau of Statistics.

Mr. Wang, 30 years old, found time to pen "Love the Motherland, Love Statistics," a reflection on his role as an unappreciated civil servant and the personal satisfaction he nonetheless gets from his work:

In life
Some mock me for doing statistics
Some loathe me and statistics
Some don't understand what statistics are
Why is it that statistics
Put a calm smile on my face?
Because of statistics I can solve the deepest mysteries
Because of statistics I will not be lonely again, playing in the data
Because of statistics I can rearrange the stars in the skies above

[...]

Day by day our surveys grow robust
Strategic service, its power we entrust
Stores of data show great changes
The world can see their rising ranges

[...]

The stormy times force me to pay more attention
To the national GDP and CPI announcements...
As the motherland becomes richer and more powerful,
Statistics are emphasized.