The Chinese government has publicly praised the contribution of
private entrepreneurs, small-business owners and managerial-level
staff in private or foreign-funded enterprises to the country's
economic development.
It considers 50 million such professionals as members of a "new
social stratum", who possess or manage capital totaling 10 trillion
yuan (US$1.3 trillion).
"This 'new social stratum' accounts for more than half of the
country's technical patents, contributes nearly one third of the
country's total tax revenues and provides jobs for more than half
of the total number of job-seekers each year," Chen Xiqing, deputy
head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of
China (CPC) Central Committee told the People's Daily.
Chen said that the United Front Work Department has been working
to establish an evaluation system for the high-flying professionals
in order to recommend some of the most successful people for
governmental posts.
Some members of the so-called "new social stratum" have already
been elected as deputies of the National People's Congress (NPC)
and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Other professionals have
been recommended to work as prosecutors and auditors in judicial
and governmental departments.
The concept of a specific "social stratum" harks back to the
1960s and 70s when Chinese society was clearly divided into five
strata - farmer, worker, intellectual, cadre and soldier.
(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2007)