It is hard to believe this energetic woman is in her 50s.

In China, it is the age of retirement for most women. But Zhao Li is just starting her brand new career as an entrepreneur.

"I could not just sit there waiting to retire. I wanted to do something and so I volunteered to quit my job. This is not common at my age and in my hometown," said Zhao.

Three years ago, she gave up her job in a state-run department store in Jinzhou and opened a gourd artwork factory.

Zhao is one of many workers laid off from local state-owned companies who have started their own business with help from the government.

From July 1 to July 3, she and 576 re-employment pioneers from all around Liaoning Province showed off their new products and sought cooperation and market expansion at the three-day Liaoning Laid-off Workers' Business Exhibition.

"With this special platform, we can help improve the confidence of laid-off workers and provide entrepreneurs with a place to find partners and expand their businesses," said Li, an official from the Liaoning Provincial Labor and Social Security Bureau.

Liaoning Governor Zhang Wenyue and Party Secretary Li Keqiang all took part in the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

Zhang said creating jobs was still at the top of the local government agenda, and that more efforts would be made to help laid-off workers find jobs and start new lives.

Liaoning once had a high percentage of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and suffered a great deal in the 1990s when the country leant increasingly towards the market economy. Around 500 SOEs went bankrupt and nearly 3 million workers lost their jobs.

The local government is intending to focus on two policies. One is to set up a social security network, the other is to encourage private economic development.

After three years' work, the province has set up an independent social security network covering all residents living in cities, according to the Liaoning Labor and Social Security Bureau.

Private business contributed over half of the gross domestic product of Shenyang, the provincial capital, last year, according to statistics from the Shenyang Municipal Statistics Bureau.

Local government has given laid-off workers and other unemployed people preferential treatment in setting up their own businesses, including tax reductions or exemptions.

The local re-employment office has revealed it will help establish incubator bases in 14 cities designed to help 5,000 laid-off workers begin their own business.

Their companies will enjoy preferential treatment including tax reductions or exemptions.

Zhao told China Daily that she is planning to expand her business and set up a bigger gourd-planting base to start exploiting overseas markets.

(China Daily July 4, 2005)