Business environment improves

More important, perhaps, Gholamhossein said he believes that businessmen like himself have benefited enormously from the continuously improving business environment, not only in Yiwu, but all over China.

"For example, the tax authorities' supporting policy of VAT(value-added tax) exemption is very important to us, as it reduces our investment risk, lightens our burden, saves on export costs and strengthens our competitiveness in the international market, thus improving our economic efficiency," he said.

While delivering a report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing on Oct 16, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, emphasized that China will continue to provide an enabling environment for private enterprises, protect their property rights and the rights and interests of entrepreneurs in accordance with the law, and facilitate the growth of the private sector.

From small businesses to top internet companies leading global technological development, China's private companies are quickly becoming pioneers in driving economic growth and innovation at home and abroad.

China's private enterprises have contributed nearly 50 percent of the country's tax revenue, 60 percent of GDP, 70 percent of technological innovation and 80 percent of urban employment, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Gholamhossein said that "from January to July this year, my company's total imports reached $30 million, and its total exports exceeded $10 million".

Furthermore, while the company in the past needed translators to communicate with store owners, the proficiency of those owners in foreign languages, especially English, has "vastly improved", and preferential policies issued by the local government have made the business environment better for foreign companies, he added.

Fang Xiaoying and Qi Xiao contributed to this story.

mazhenhuan@chinadaily.com.cn