Economic structure of Beijing, which had long been predominated
by state-owned enterprises, is changing conspicuously. Statistics
from the municipal industrial and commercial departments show that
the number of registered private enterprises in the capital had
reached 176,000 by the end of September, accounting for half of the
domestic-financed enterprises.??
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)