Professionals, entrepreneurs new pillar of China
Thursday, August 3, 2006
Excerpt: China’s 150 million entrepreneurs and freelance professionals are being recognized along with workers, farmers and intellectuals as a new pillar of Chinese society and economic development.
The Outlook Weekly, Xinhua’s news magazine, reports that entrepreneurs and professionals contribute one third of the country’s total tax revenues.
Emerging as a new economic force they include private enterprise owners, technicians and managers and independent professionals such as doctors and lawyers.
These well-educated, highly-motivated professionals and business people are responsible for more than 50 percent of the country’s technical patents and hold nearly 10 trillion yuan of capital.
During the period of China’s state-planned economy, people were either workers, farmers or intellectuals.
The United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has recognized business people and professionals as a new pillar of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Statistics show that the group has already made a significant contribution to Chinese society. In the prosperous provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu, private enterprises contribute about half of each province’s tax revenues.
Via Jeannie at the IFC Blog.?