Since the delegate list for the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was revealed earlier this year, the 34 delegates from privately-owned enterprises have drawn public attention.
Those businessmen, a small group among the 2,270 Party delegates from across the country, are now in Beijing witnessing the hand-over of the country's leadership and joining in the making of amendments to the Party Constitution.
Struggling businesses
The entrepreneurs will represent the country's 9 million private enterprises, which provide 80 percent of job opportunities in urban and rural areas and contribute more than half of economic growth, but many of which are struggling to survive.
Wang Dong, chairman of the Dayu Water-Saving Group in Gansu Province, noted that the private sector should stay in line with the nation's overall development strategy and remain in the mainstream, maintaining China's economic order.
However, Wang said most private enterprises are engaged in industries with lower profits than State-owned enterprises (SOE), and that lucrative industries are not always open to them.
SOEs enjoy a privileged position or outright monopolies in key industries such as telecommunications, finance, energy and resources. This has been holding private enterprises back, say the delegates.
"Some industries are difficult for us to enter, and even if we do make it, we might be marginalized due to problems in securing loans from banks," Xing Yichuan, a delegate and the head of Shiny-Day Group in Hainan Province, said Sunday.
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