Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo/VCG]

Qingdao has been ramping up efforts 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.

Local officials said the city's private companies are pioneers in spurring economic growth and innovative development.

According to official statistics, private companies contributed over 60 percent of the city's tax revenue, 60 percent of investment, 70 percent of foreign trade, and 80 percent of urban employment.

Private and small and medium-sized enterprises are the largest and most dynamic enterprises, playing a pivotal role in Qingdao's economic development.

In the first five months of this year, there were 118,000 newly registered private market players in Qingdao, an increase of 7.5 percent year-on-year, which accounted for 99.3 percent of the city's total newly registered market players.

Small and medium-sized enterprises have been vital to advancing innovation in Qingdao. The city is now home to 6,738 SMEs specializing in niche sectors, command a high market share, and have innovative solid capacity and core technologies. It has 151 "little giant" firms listed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and 6,680 high-tech enterprises. Twelve enterprises have been listed among the top 500 global unicorn companies.

Since the beginning of this year, there have been 2,773 projects under construction with private investment in the city, and private investment accounted for 60 percent of the city's fixed asset investment. The foreign trade volume of private enterprises reached 264.83 billion yuan ($36.54 billion), up 17.4 percent year-on-year, accounting for 78.8 percent of the city’s total foreign trade.

The city's private economy achieved tax revenue of 61.98 billion yuan, an increase of 56.2 percent, accounting for 64.9 percent of the city's total tax revenue. The private economy created 109,000 new jobs, accounting for 80.4 percent of the city's new urban employment.