Procedures for establishing a private business in the People's Republic of China, particularly in Canton
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 October 1989 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | CHN2297 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Procedures for establishing a private business in the People's Republic of China, particularly in Canton, 1 October 1989, CHN2297, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ad1d38.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Information on the procedures required for the establishment of a private business in China are not presently available in the published sources regularly consulted by the IRBDC. However, two experts on China were earlier contacted for a similar request for information on 26 September 1989. Mr. Jan Walls, a professor at Simon Fraser who specializes in Chinese politics, mentioned that individual enterprises (the official term for private enterprise) are legal throughout the country and the activities of the "gou-ti-woo" (or entrepreneurs) are not officially considered as capitalist if the firm employs no more than 7 or 8 employees. But according to Robin Munroe, a China specialist at the Washington-based human rights organization Asia Watch, these enterprises occupy an ambiguous position in China in that they supply employment and reinvigorate the economy in depressed regions, at the same time that they represent the rise of personal interests and capitalism in a society that is ostensibly communist. Both the oral sources indicated, in addition, that a person wishing to start an enterprise in China must obtain the required permits from the Bureau of Public Security and from the local government. However, Mr. Munroe added that corruption at the local government level means that a person with money and personnel connections can facilitate the necessary permission.
At the present time, according to Mr. Munroe, private enterprises occupy a difficult position because of the recent student demonstrations during which entrepreneurs gave support to the students. Besides encouragement, the entrepreneurs provided supplies and food and also formed armed brigades for the protection of the students. Consequently as a group, the private entrepreneurs are currently being blamed for having halted economic reform in China, according to Mr. Monroe.
For more general information on the operation of private enterprise in China, please consult the attached documentation.