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Chinese entrepreneurs face mounting pressure

By Wang Bo (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-12-17 19:39

The global financial crisis is causing so much trouble to the Chinese economy that many of the country's first-generation entrepreneurs are losing sleep at night.

Planning their survival strategies for the coming economic storm is putting them under unprecedented psychological pressure, according to Cai Yuping, a psychologist with the Beijing-based Haiming Consulting Center.

Cai Yuping recently told the Beijing-based Economic Observer that of the three main factors most affecting Chinese entrepreneurs - work pressure, interpersonal relations and family conflicts - work pressure can at times be fatal. When economic tides turn, many simply cannot accept the failure of their businesses.

Every business crisis has led some failing entrepreneurs to kill themselves, she noted. Her figures show that the number of high level corporate suicides in China has reached 1,200 since 1980.

Chinese entrepreneurs may be suffering more acutely compared to their overseas counterparts who are more used to wild fluctuations in business cycles and also tend to be more willing to share their feelings with psychological consultants, Cai said.

At a time when a new and even more severe crisis is besetting us, she advised enterprisers to be more aware of the need to fine-tune their mood, and whenever possible, to relax more.