Compared with the same period last year, the numbers of state- and collectively-owned enterprises, and those owned jointly by the two, decreased 10 percent each, while private enterprises witnessed an increase of 17 percent in number, a record registered capital of 223 billion yuan (US$27 billion) and tax payment of 5.1 billion yuan (US$616 million).

The private sector, once a minor part in the city’s economic structure, is now playing a big role.

Since Beijing issued the policy of encouraging development of private and individual economies in 2001, private enterprises have been booming, their development speed having surpassed that of state- and collectively-owned enterprises, and even foreign-funded ones.

Now, private enterprises have extended their influences to all major industries in the capital. A group of large-scale private companies built on the basis of modern enterprise-system, such as the Wu Mart, Hi-Tech Wealth, and Dazhong Electric Appliances, have appeared. Among the “Beijing Famous Brands” selected by relative departments, 23 are commodities from private enterprises. In addition, 40 percent of export and import enterprises in the capital are private firms.

While developing rapidly in quantities and scales, private enterprises perform well in the field of hi-tech. Over the past decade, the number of private hi-tech enterprises in Beijing has been increasing with an annual percentage of 40. Last year alone, about 60 percent of the capital’s industrial growth came from private enterprises, a great impetus to Beijing's economic development. Now, over 90 percent of the hi-tech enterprises in the Zhongguancun Hi-Tech Zone are privately operated.

This year, in order to encourage private economy to develop more soundly and rapidly, the Beijing municipal government decided to break industrial monopoly as well as the limitations for investment in region, ownership and foreign or domestic funding. Except for those limited by special state policies, investment in all other fields, including infrastructural facilities such as public communication, toll highway, water, gas and heat supplies and sewage treatment, and social utilities concerning culture, education, public health and sports, will open to social funds, aiming to lower the market access threshold for private enterprises.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, November 6, 2003)