A man works in a car plant in Qingzhou, Shandong province, Aug 21, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Businesspeople in central and western parts more optimistic

For Xu Deming, who runs a furniture business in Shunde, Guangdong province, the last two years were like a nightmare.

"The last two years were the most difficult for us, as our exports dropped 50 percent, while all costs, including labor and rental, have increased," said Xu, who has run the business for the past decade, adding that he has applied for a bank loan to upgrade his company's technology.

Xu expressed hope that better times were around the corner for his firm, noting that his loan application was likely to be approved soon "due to new preferential policies on small and medium-sized enterprise financing".

He is not the only entrepreneur in China who has caught a chill from the cooling economic climate, but also he is not alone in expressing optimism that the situation will warm next year.

According to a survey conducted by the Chinese Entrepreneur Survey System, Chinese business people's top concerns are a lack of overseas demand, excess capacity, and financing difficulties faced by small and medium-sized enterprises.

However, they remain cautiously optimistic about next year, expecting a rebound in new orders, reduced costs, improved earnings, a moderate rise in exports, and increased employment and investment.

The system is an organization supported by research institutes under government departments, including the State Council, the National Bureau of Statistics and the National Development and Reform Commission.

According to Lu Zhongyuan, deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, business people's expectations are closely related to central government policies and international economic climate.

"They should make more effort to conquer external challenges, and the government should improve its services to help enterprises increase their competence in the market," he said.

The survey, now in its 20th year, was held from Aug 10 to Oct 15 and involved 4,015 business people engaged in the manufacturing, retail, construction, real estate, agriculture, logistics, energy, mining and service sectors.

Most of the survey's respondents - 70 percent - were from the manufacturing sector, with 66 percent of those surveyed based in eastern China.