After 1949, revolutionary statisticians and economists reformulated statistics as a social science, insulating it from mathematical statistics 数理统计学 and probability theory 几率论. In this paper, I offer a preliminary discussion of how this shift affected the valuation and use of the various key statistical concepts that lie at the heart of economic estimation, especially as they pertain to the market. What is the best measure of central tendency—the mode 众数, the median 中位数, or a particular kind of mean 平均数 (arithmetic 算术, geometric 几何, or harmonic 调和)? What is the ideal method for calculating indices/indicators 指标? What is the best way to conduct time-series 时间数列 analysis? These questions occupied a central place in debates among revolutionary statisticians as they sought to measure economic activity and build a socialist economy.