China's masses need to grasp the benefits a market economy is bringing to the country, a number of key figures in the country's private sector said Thursday.

Charles Zhang, CEO of Sohu.com, says fairness doesn't mean everyone gets an equal share of wealth. Instead, it means equal opportunities for people to create fortunes. [newsphoto.com.cn]

"For people at large in China, their view on wealth still stays in an old-day mode," said Charles Zhang, CEO of Sohu.com.

He was commenting on the negative views held by many in China on the process of wealth creation - despite the obvious benefits.

His comment came at a special session focusing on Chinese private entrepreneurs at the Forbes Global CEO Conference, which ended in Shanghai Thursday.

Instead of appreciating the benefits the rich bring to society, such as creating jobs and paying taxes, many hate the moneyed and their wealth or feel the process is unfair, said Zhang.

"Although the status of those wealth-owners continues to rise (in China), it hasn't yet reached a level they deserve," Zhang noted.

And public awareness of the inviolable nature of private property is still lacking here, he said.

Zhang expects to be named this year on the 100 richest Chinese list, an annual ranking released by Forbes since 1999. His hopes to appear on the list are due to his portal website's robust performance on the US NASDAQ stock market. First appearing on the list in 2000, he dropped out the following two years.

Fairness doesn't mean everyone gets an equal share of wealth; instead, it means equal opportunities for people to create fortunes, according to Zhang.

China's wealth makers deserve respect and recognition of their contributions and the progressive significance of their businesses to society, he said. Otherwise they will not feel the incentive to start businesses.

He said there should be a change of "fundamental thinking" of the government, the society and the legal system in judging private entrepreneurs' first bucket of gold - the foundation of the current domestic private sector. He noted that due to the fledgling nature of the market and the regulatory mechanisms, some entrepreneurs may have resorted to irregular practices in accumulating their wealth in the early 1980s and 1990s.

The Forbes China Rich List is jokingly referred to as a "death list" for the affluent.

Some tycoons on the list have, in the last few years, been targeted by the authorities for various financial and tax problems - such as the recent arrest of Shanghai real-estate mogul Zhou Zhengyi. As a result, people have begun to feel doubts about private entrepreneurs - and their wealth.

"In the current society, if people become rich or accumulate a lot of wealth, they become a target," said Chauncey Shey, president and CEO of Softbank China Venture Capital Co.

"I think that view needs to be adjusted...these business people should be treated fairly, and we should look at the positive side (of what they have done)," he added.

As China is improving its legal system and embracing more international and civilized ways of doing business, what matters now is to judge those controversial private entrepreneurs' behaviour "of and from today".

It will be OK if these people give up their old methodology or business models in accumulating wealth, otherwise society would condemn such practices, he said.

"The important thing is to move forward," Shey noted.

Yet Guo Guangchang, president and general manager of Shanghai Fosun Hi-Tech Group, said the key point lies with private entrepreneurs themselves.

"I believe most of China's private businesses dug their first bucket of gold in an open and aboveboard way," said Guo.

"But I still would say we ourselves should do better," he said. "As we own more wealth and resources, we should shoulder more responsibilities to society."

Private entrepreneurs should maintain an open and forgiving mentality, even though they may encounter much criticism from society.

"Just like what I told my peers, I'm ready to pay lifelong efforts to change the common view of society and let people realize that being wealthy is not evil," Guo noted.

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