Jing Shuping, once branded a "reactionary capitalist" in the Cultural Revolution and banished to a farm, was instrumental in persuading Zhu Rongji, the prime minister, to approve the country's first private bank, Minsheng.
Now the ex-chicken farmer is seen as a trail-blazer. Eight years after the founding of Minsheng, officials have told the Financial Times, China is set to back the establishment of a series of private banks.
The move marks a big change by the authorities which, despite Minsheng's glowing record and successful debut on the local stock market in 2000, were still reluctant to shake up the state-dominated bank sector by licensing new private lenders. It also reflects the redoubled emphasis on the non-state economy that emerged from last November's landmark Communist party congress.
