A new survey of nearly 4,000 private companies shows that 85 percent find it hard to obtain loans.

Dai Jianzhong, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences said that Chinese banks, who put safety first, still prefer lending money to big enterprises.

Private companies had mixed views about government policies.

Big companies and companies based in the comparatively prosperous east were more satisfied, said Bao Yujun, director of the All-China Society of Private Economy Research (ACSPER).

The survey indicated that 32 percent of company owners are Communist Party members, and 55 percent had worked in state-owned or collective enterprises before setting up their own business.

The survey, the seventh of its kind since 1993, was jointly conducted by ACSPER, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and the United Front Work Development of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Private businesses have expanded rapidly in China since the country started its reform and opening up policy and now account for 65 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

China's registered private enterprises grew by 15 percent to 4.947 million last year. Their total registered capital rocketed to 7.5 trillion yuan, up 22 percent.

Source: Xinhua