The State-Owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council

Modern Chinese SOEs are capitalist firms subject to market discipline. They can and will fail and go under if they aren't making enough money. These state-owned industries also largely are not supposed to be monopolies. Firms that get too large and powerful, can and will be broken up in the parts once again set to compete against each other. Weirder still, these SOEs are also listed on the stock market, meaning individual capitalists, and as we'll see later even foreign firms, can buy 49% stakes in nominally state- owned industries.