On the morning of September 22, the 2023 World Cantonese Entrepreneurs Conference, jointly hosted by the Guangdong Provincial Government, the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC), opened in Guangzhou. Thoroughly implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches and instructions during his inspection of Guangdong, and fully implementing the Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy, the conference took “Global Cantonese Entrepreneurs, World-Class Bay Area, Shared Future” as its theme, uniting Cantonese entrepreneurs worldwide to participate in the development of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area and to support Guangdong’s high-quality development. Huang Kunming, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, and Xu Lejiang, Deputy Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of ACFIC, attended the opening ceremony and delivered remarks. John Lee, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and Ho Iat Seng, Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region, delivered video addresses. Lin Keqing, Chairman of the Guangdong Provincial CPPCC, chaired the opening ceremony.
In his remarks, Huang Kunming noted that over 45 years of reform and opening-up, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and with the dedicated contributions of Cantonese entrepreneurs, Guangdong has undergone earth-shaking historical changes and has become a vivid microcosm of the historic achievements and transformations of the Party and the country. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to and shows warm care for Guangdong. In April this year he again visited for an inspection, placing hope in Guangdong to take the lead in advancing Chinese modernization and injecting strong impetus into Guangdong’s new journey. At present, the whole province is following the General Secretary’s strategic guidance and, around implementing the Provincial Party Committee’s “1310” concrete deployments, solidly advancing Guangdong’s practice of Chinese modernization. Today’s Guangdong has a bright outlook and surging vitality, with favorable development conditions arriving one after another, strong development momentum, a more favorable development environment, and vast development space. He hoped that Cantonese entrepreneurs would seize historic opportunities, actively participate in Guangdong’s high-quality development, unswervingly pursue the path of serving the country through industry and independent innovation, deeply engage in Greater Bay Area development, continue to invest in, cultivate, and take root in Guangdong, keep paying attention to, promoting, and supporting Guangdong, and serve as ambassadors of Guangdong’s image, investment attraction, and talent recruitment—while helping their hometown’s modernization, achieving first-class undertakings, building first-class enterprises, and realizing faster and better development. The Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government have always cared about and valued the growth of Cantonese entrepreneurs and will do their utmost to create better conditions and provide better services for their innovation-driven development and growth.
In his remarks, Xu Lejiang noted that the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area is one of China’s most open economic regions and one of the regions where the private economy is most dynamic and promising. Holding the World Cantonese Entrepreneurs Conference plays a very important role in guiding Cantonese entrepreneurs to better seize the strategic opportunities of Greater Bay Area development and to create new glory for Cantonese business at a new starting point. He hoped that Cantonese entrepreneurs would deeply understand the firm resolve of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the CPC Central Committee to support the development and growth of the private economy, fully recognize that the foundation for China’s economic recovery and improvement remains solid, further strengthen confidence in development, and shoulder the mission of private enterprises in the historic process of advancing Chinese modernization. He hoped they would base themselves on the new strategic goals of Greater Bay Area development, adhere to industry as the foundation, priority, and focus, and unswervingly develop the real economy; strengthen innovation-driven development and play a greater role in advancing high-level sci-tech self-reliance and the translation of research outcomes; seize green development opportunities and help implement the “dual carbon” goals; and continuously broaden their global vision to open new horizons in high-level opening-up. He hoped Cantonese entrepreneurs would deepen their patriotism, hold firm ideals of national rejuvenation, pursue the goal of building world-class enterprises, take on social responsibility for promoting common prosperity, actively participate in east–west collaboration, and take part in the “Ten Thousand Enterprises Revitalizing Ten Thousand Villages” campaign, playing a positive role in narrowing urban–rural, regional, and income gaps and contributing more wisdom and strength to Chinese modernization.
In his video address, John Lee said that with strong central support and joint efforts by Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, high-level cooperation in the Greater Bay Area has reached a new level, connectivity continues to deepen, and flows of people, goods, and capital have become more efficient and convenient. The HKSAR Government will continue to actively promote Greater Bay Area development and help Cantonese entrepreneurs and other Greater Bay Area enterprises make good use of Hong Kong’s advantages under “One Country, Two Systems”—“backed by the motherland and connected to the world”—to keep expanding overseas markets and better play Hong Kong’s dual role as a platform for “bringing in and going global.”
Ho Iat Seng said that the Guangdong–Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin is an important platform for Macao to participate in Greater Bay Area development and integrate into national development. The Macao SAR Government will continue to strengthen close cooperation with the Guangdong Provincial Government, stay true to creating conditions for Macao’s industrial diversification, make good use of the institutional advantages of “One Country, Two Systems,” leverage Macao’s own strengths, continuously improve the new system of joint consultation, construction, management, and sharing, and advance high-quality development of the Hengqin Cooperation Zone with greater intensity.
At the opening ceremony, Cantonese entrepreneur representatives including Lin Chuqin, Adrian Cheng, and Wang Laichun delivered exchange remarks, and entrepreneur and business association representatives from home and abroad spoke via video. The Organizing Committee of the 2023 World Cantonese Entrepreneurs Conference released the “Ten Thousand Enterprises Revitalizing Ten Thousand Villages — Cantonese Entrepreneurs in Action” initiative and the “2023 Top 100 Private Enterprises in Guangdong Province” list, and held a launch ceremony to pool global Cantonese entrepreneurial strength in support of high-quality Greater Bay Area development.
Relevant Guangdong provincial leaders; principal responsible persons of relevant ACFIC departments and directly affiliated units; principal responsible persons of relevant Guangdong departments and prefecture-level-and-above cities; well-known Cantonese entrepreneurs and business association representatives from home and abroad; representatives of Fortune Global 500 and China Top 500 enterprises; representatives of relevant central SOEs and Guangdong provincial SOEs; well-known experts and scholars and representatives of financial institutions and think tanks; and foreign consular officials stationed in Guangzhou—about 800 people in total—attended the opening ceremony.
This Cantonese Entrepreneurs Conference also released three major lists: the “2023 Top 100 Private Enterprises in Guangdong Province,” the “2023 Top 100 Manufacturing Private Enterprises in Guangdong Province,” and the “2023 Top 50 Services Private Enterprises in Guangdong Province.”On the “Top 100 Private Enterprises in Guangdong Province” list released by the Guangdong Federation of Industry and Commerce, medical 3D printing leading brand Sailner Digital Medical’s parent company, Zhuhai Sailner Technology Co., Ltd., ranked 55th. At the conference forum, the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government conferred on site the honorary title of “Outstanding Builders of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics among Non-Public Sector Figures of Guangdong Province,” recognizing entrepreneurs who have played a leading and exemplary role in private enterprise development. Our company’s Chairman, Wang Dongying, was awarded this honorary title.
Looking at city distribution among the 2023 Top 100 Private Enterprises in Guangdong Province: Shenzhen 38, Guangzhou 25, Foshan 17, Zhuhai, Huizhou, Dongguan, and Maoming 3 each, Zhaoqing 2, and Shantou, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Zhanjiang, Chaozhou, and Yunfu 1 each. It should be noted that this Guangdong Top 100 private enterprise ranking is based on voluntary corporate applications, with 2022 operating revenue as the basic criterion and corporate annual accounting statements as the basis. Therefore some enterprises did not participate and do not appear on the list—for example, Huawei in Shenzhen, NetEase and Shein in Guangzhou, and OPPO in Dongguan.
Which leading private enterprises represent several major cities?
Top five private enterprises in Guangzhou: Haid Group, Vipshop, Dinglong Group, Jingdong Trading, and Agile Group;
Top five private enterprises in Shenzhen: Zhengwei Group, Tencent, Vanke, BYD, and SF Express;
Top five private enterprises in Foshan: Midea Group, Midea Real Estate, Hongwang Group, Xinghai Copper & Aluminum, and Brunp Recycling;
Top three private enterprises in Dongguan: Nine Dragons Paper, Hongchuan Group, and Dongguan Rural Commercial Bank;
Top three private enterprises in Huizhou: TCL Technology, TCL Industries, and EVE Energy;
Top three private enterprises in Zhuhai: Gree Electric Appliances, Sailner Technology, and Yuexiang Tianyuan Holdings.
