Huawei, with sales of 28 billion yuan (US$3.4 billion) last year, has emerged over the past 20-plus years and heads the field of non-state economic entities that have developed into a driving force for local economy.

A special economic zone, Shenzhen is now home to 54,888 private and non-state firms, 53.6 times the figure for 1991 and much higher than the mere seven self-employed businesses two decades ago. The enterprises have 81.6 billion yuan (US$9.8 billion) in combined registered capital, 544 times the 1991 level. 　　

Accounting for 46 percent of the city's total enterprises, the non-state sector in Shenzhen has enhanced its financial power, expanded its business scope and increased the technological contents.

At the end of 2001 there were 1,940 non-state enterprises each with a registered capital of over 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million), including 20 each with a registered capital of topping than 100 million yuan mark (US$12 million).

The statistics also show that at the end of 2001, non-state firms dealing in science and technology numbered more than 2,500 in Shenzhen, including 1,130 recognized by the municipal Science and Technology Bureau. Of those, there were 101 new- and high-tech enterprises, or 32 percent of the city's total.

In recent years, non-state technological firms make up approximately 10 percent of Shenzhen's annual gross industrial output value, or about 20 percent of the city's annual output of new- and high-tech industries.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2002)