Entrepreneurs "confident" during troubled times

Confronted with one of the hardest times in a decade, the country's entrepreneurs are still expressing confidence in the country's economic future.

The newly-released government work report "instills confidence," said Lei Jun, founder of China's homegrown smartphone vendor Xiaomi and deputy to the NPC.

Dong Mingzhu, an NPC deputy and president of Gree Electric Appliances, told China.org.cn that she thinks pessimism regarding China's slowdown is, in some ways, overhyped.

"I think it is quite normal to see a few fluctuations in the process of high-speed growth," Dong noted, implying that the powerhouse is undergoing a period of dormancy. "Economic transformation cannot come overnight, and neither can the ongoing supply-side reform."

"A 6.5 percent GDP growth target may seem much lower than that of previous years," said Pony Ma, president of China's Internet giant Tencent and also a deputy to the NPC, during a panel discussion on March 6, "But don't forget, China's GDP volume is also much bigger than before, which is almost 1.5 times that of five years ago in terms of absolute value."

Ma recognized strong headwinds for future socioeconomic development but was still encouraged by the Premier's government work report, saying that "those problems can be resolved in the process of development."

"Faced with difficulties, we can't change the general environment, only our own actions," Li Dongsheng, president of TCL, China's leading consumer electronics enterprise, told China.org.cn. The NPC deputy is resolved to boost innovation, industrial capacity, brand-building and Internet application capabilities in order to survive the competitive global environment.

He hoped that the government will roll out more measures to shore up brick-and-mortar businesses such as increased investment and burden relief against a backdrop of complicated economic situations.