支持非公有制经济发展
20世纪70年代，面对居民日常必需品短缺和劳动力就业的压力，部分农村群众创造了“大包干”，部分城镇居民也开始自谋职业。中央最初对于这种群众自发创举，采取了有限的支持政策。改革开放后，中国共产党对“什么是社会主义、怎样建设社会主义”进行了科学的、开创性探索，揭开了非公有制经济发展的大幕。1987年，党的十三大提出了以公有制为主体、大力发展有计划的商品经济，确认了私营经济是公有制经济必要的和有益的补充。1988年的宪法修正案中明确了私营企业的法律地位。1989年，私营企业第一次被纳入官方统计数据。1992年年初，邓小平发表南方谈话，为发展非公有制经济奠定了思想理论基础。
党的十五大提出，非公有制经济是我国社会主义市场经济的重要组成部分。非公有制经济从社会主义经济的“补充”上升为“重要组成部分”。党的十六大提出,毫不动摇地巩固和发展公有制经济，毫不动摇地鼓励、支持和引导非公有制经济发展。党的十八届三中全会进一步明确提出，公有制经济和非公有制经济都是社会主义市场经济的重要组成部分，都是我国经济社会发展的重要基础。党的十九大就鼓励支持非公有制经济发展提出了许多新的重大论述,推动了非公有制经济迈入发展的新时代。非公有制经济在改革开放40年中由无到有、到发展壮大，相伴的是民间投资的快速增长。到2018年年初，非公经济创造了80%左右的就业、60%左右的GDP、50%以上的税收。
Supporting the non-public economy
In the 1970s, farmers in some rural areas, desperate to remedy the lack of daily necessities and find work for surplus labor force, invented "an all-round contract system." Residents in some cities also tried to set up their own small self-employed businesses. These voluntary actions won limited support from the central authorities.
After China began its reform and opening-up initiative, the CPC had a creative debate on the nature of socialism and how to build it, and allowed the non-public economy to grow. At its 13th National Congress in 1987, the Party decided to develop a market economy with central planning, with the public sector as the mainstay and the private sector as a necessary and beneficial supplement. In 1988 private enterprises found their legal status affirmed in the amendments to China's Constitution, and for the first time they were included in official statistics in 1989. Deng Xiaoping provided the theoretical reasoning behind the private economy in his south tour talks in early 1992.
At its 15th National Congress, the CPC upgraded the "supplementary" status of the non-public sector to "an important component" of China's socialist market economy. The 16th CPC National Congress committed to "consolidate and develop the public sector of the economy" and "encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public sector." The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee confirmed that public and non-public sectors were both key components of the socialist market economy, and important bases for China's economic and social development. The 19th CPC National Congress made further observations on supporting the development of the non-public sector in a new era.
During China's 40 years of reform and opening up, the non-public sector has grown out of nothing and kept expanding, with a boom in private investment. By early 2018, the non-public sector was generating 60 percent of China's GDP and more than 50 percent of its taxation, and providing 80 percent of total jobs.