Huawei, with sales of 28 billion yuan (3.4 billion US dollars) 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 privateand 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 (9.8 billion US dollars) 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 (1.2 million US dollars), including 20 each with a registered capital of topping than 100 million yuan mark (12 million US dollars).

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 29, 2002)