According to Beijing Evening News on February 28 a study entitled 2006 International Business Owners Survey, jointly held by Experian and Grant Thornton, shows that of business owners from around the world Chinese entrepreneurs encounter the heaviest pressures.

Compared with 2005, many more owners of medium-sized enterprises in China including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao indicate that pressure is mounting on them. On average they took just 10.9 days of annual holiday whereas worldwide the average is 15.4 days. Average annual holiday entitlement in the European Union is 21.7 days.

Eighty-nine percent of business owners in Taiwan said they felt this year would be more difficult than 2005 while 87 percent of those on the mainland hold the same view. The figure for Hong Kong was slightly lower, 69 percent.

According to the survey there is a direct connection between annual holidays and the level of stress being felt. The average 10.9-days holiday break was reckoned to be too short for those owning businesses in China. For 34 percent of the mainland business people, the continued concern about their businesses was the main cause of stress.

In East Asia those feeling the most pressure were the businessmen taking the shortest holidays.

In another set of figures 20 percent of mainland business owners complained about the amount of travel they had to undertake for work reasons. However, this figure was much lower elsewhere -- Hong Kong was 13 percent and Taiwan just 5 percent. The average figure for the world in this context was put at 14 percent.

(China.org.cn by Wang Ke, March 1, 2006)