CPPCC Member Call for Honoring Outstanding Private Businessmen

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 07, 2002

CPPCC Member Call for Honoring Outstanding Private Businessmen

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A businessman attending the ongoing annual session of China's top advisory body proposed the initiation of a national medal for commending those in the private sector excelled in socialist construction and media should give enough publication to these people so that they would be duly respected just as "Model Worker", "Red-Flag pace-setters" among women and "May 4" medal winners among youth.

The proposal was raised by Sun Anmin, president of the Beijing Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce and also a Standing Committee member of the Ninth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

After two decades of reform and opening-up, he said, the social conditions in China have undergone profound changes. Private businesses have become a major force to reckon with and those working in the private sector are eager to have their contributions recognized in society, Sun said.

These people are usually addressed as "bosses" or "self-employed" and those employees who work in air-conditioned office towers and often utter a few English words when talking as "white collars". There is no accurate number about these people, but the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce put it at more than 1.15 million by the end of 2001.

Sun's proposal met with favorable response from Xu Lianjie, president of the Hengan Group in east China's Fujiang Province, which employed more than 10,000 people and paid over 200 million yuan of tax last year.

This entrepreneur, who used to shun publicity, said that non-governmental entrepreneurs have made so great contributions that they should be duly honored.

It was reported that the Beijing Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce is to carry out activities to confer "medal for socialist construction of the capital" and the activities are likely to spread throughout the country.

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