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The 'non-public economy' gets a bad rap for a variety of reasons, but considering the important role it plays it is time to end the discrimination

Whether measured in terms of GDP, tax contributions to the government or job creation, the private economy is playing a crucial role in China's overall economy.

In developed areas, the total private economy accounts for more than 90 percent of GDP, taking into account all the jobs and taxes it brings in.

However, even as the proportion of private business output has risen substantially, the sector has yet to obtain an equal footing with the state-owned economy. Both hidden and overt discrimination against the private economy exist almost everywhere.

Such discrimination can be found both in the government's attitude and in its regulations. State-owned companies are heralded as "the leading force of the national economy," to be "consolidated and developed." Private companies are instead still distinguished as "the non-public economy such as the individual economy and private-owned businesses which make up an important part of the socialist market economy."

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