State-owned enterprises refer to wholly state-owned enterprises, wholly state-owned companies and state-owned capital holding companies that the State Council and local people's governments perform the responsibilities of investors on behalf of the state respectively.
As a form of production and operation organization, state-owned enterprises have both commercial and public welfare characteristics, and play a role in coordinating the development of all aspects of the national economy.
State-owned enterprises have a certain administrative nature. Due to historical reasons, the classification of state-owned enterprises is quite complicated. For the state-owned enterprises in China, those who invest or hold more than 50% of the state-owned assets are state-owned enterprises. 1978 before the reform and opening up, even at the end of the 20th century, state-owned enterprises were always supported and fostered by the government. The establishment of state-owned enterprises, in which a large part of government tax revenue is invested, has led to the establishment and emergence of a large number of state-owned enterprises. Some state-owned enterprises were transformed from the original government departments, such as China Telecom and China Mobile, which were originally the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, and later reorganized in the late 1990s and early this century. China's state-owned enterprises are registered according to the Regulations on the Administration of the Registration of Enterprise Legal Persons in People's Republic of China (PRC), and the main body of assets investment is the state-owned assets management department, that is, state-owned enterprises.
There are different views on the concept of private enterprises in economics. One view is that private enterprises are legal person economic entities with private investment, private operation, private enjoyment of investment income and private undertaking of business risks. Another view is that relatively state-owned enterprises can be divided into state-owned private enterprises and private private enterprises according to different forms of ownership. The property rights of state-owned private enterprises belong to the state, and the lessee shall, in accordance with the requirements of the market economy, raise funds by itself, operate independently, be responsible for its own profits and losses and bear its own risks. Private enterprises refer to individual enterprises and private enterprises.