China Briefing | Entrepreneurship in China: strong or dispirited?

No fulsome adjective is spared, with superlatives such as “amazing”, “outstanding” and “historic” freely employed to extol progress in the economic, social, environmental, cultural and diplomatic spheres over the past five years. The media praises the country’s world-class bridges, tunnels, high-speed railways and satellites, as well as new trends in bike sharing and mobile payments.

The underlying message is clear: under Xi’s leadership, the government has been able to pool national resources to achieve significant breakthroughs, a key advantage of the one-party dictatorship which gets things done and does not allow others to question decisions.

Amid this campaign to eulogise the power of the government and the party, it is thus interesting to note that on Monday, the Chinese government made public its first set of guidelines to promote entrepreneurship, create a more favourable environment for entrepreneurs, and better protect their legal property and interests.

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Over the past few days, state media has lined up officials, economists and private business owners to validate the strategic importance of the guidelines, highlighting the timing of the release just before the party’s 19th congress and the fact this is the first time such a document has been released in the name of both the party and the government.