In China's largest city Shanghai, there is one private business owner out of every 30 people of employable age, a recent survey among Shanghai's working population has found.

The survey, conducted by the Shanghai municipal labor and social security department, shows 3.1 percent of the 25,000 citizens surveyed are operating their private business entities and hold stakes.

Meanwhile, an additional 1.8 percent of the respondents said they are making concrete preparations for a private business, bringing the actual proportion of private entrepreneurs in the city to 4.9 percent.

The percentage is higher than the 3.3 percent reported in Hong Kong and 4.3 percent in Taiwan, but lags behind the southern booming city Shenzhen, where 10.5 percent of the working population are private business owners, said Sheng Zuhuan, a labor and social security official.

The survey also found an impressive 13.1 percent of average Shanghai people plan to start up their own businesses in the coming year. The proportion is nearly 23 percent among the unemployed respondents.

Men are more enthusiastic than women in starting up a business and those between 35 and 44 years old are keenest entrepreneurs, according to Sheng.

Most residents support enterprising endeavors and are tolerate of abortive business attempts, too. About 84 percent of the parents surveyed said they approve of their children's private business plans and are ready to give a helping hand.

The respondents, aged between 16 and 64, were randomly picked by the labor and social security department to fill out a questionnaire.

Shanghai has been encouraging its unemployed population to start up their own businesses since 1996, with tax exemption policies, easier access to small loans and tailored logistic services for their convenience. About 20.5 percent of the citizens have benefited from the preferential treatment in the past decade.

(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2005)