Public-private partnerships (PPPs) in China rose sharply after 2014. However, there are growing concerns regarding the predominance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as partners of PPP projects. The participation of private companies in China's PPP has been decreasing in recent years despite the promotion of the national government. Based on the transaction cost theory, we construct an explanatory framework of private participation that contains government, market, transactional context, and project dimensions. Employing a city-level panel data containing rich information about partner structure, our analysis shows that strong government capacity and credibility, active local private sector, and proximity both geographically and politically to the national power center promote private participation. In addition, projects with lower investment levels and longer duration tend to have higher private participation. Our findings offer insights into enhancing private infrastructure investment, relevant for both neoliberal and non-liberal countries facing budget constraints. 2014(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(PPP)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(SOE)(sic)(sic)PPP(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)PPP(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic). Las asociaciones p & uacute;blico-privadas (APP) en China aumentaron marcadamente despu & eacute;s de 2014. Sin embargo, existe una creciente preocupaci & oacute;n por el predominio de las empresas estatales (EPE) como socios de proyectos de APP. La participaci & oacute;n de empresas privadas en las APP de China ha disminuido en los & uacute;ltimos a & ntilde;os a pesar de la promoci & oacute;n del gobierno nacional. Bas & aacute;ndonos en la teor & iacute;a de los costos de transacci & oacute;n, construimos un marco explicativo de la participaci & oacute;n privada que contiene dimensiones de gobierno, mercado, contexto transaccional y proyecto. Empleando un panel de datos a nivel de ciudad que contiene abundante informaci & oacute;n sobre la estructura de los socios, nuestro an & aacute;lisis muestra que la fuerte capacidad y credibilidad del gobierno, el activo sector privado local y la proximidad geogr & aacute;fica y pol & iacute;tica al centro de poder nacional promueven la participaci & oacute;n privada. Adem & aacute;s, los proyectos con un nivel de inversi & oacute;n m & aacute;s bajo y una duraci & oacute;n m & aacute;s larga tienden a tener una mayor participaci & oacute;n privada. Nuestros hallazgos ofrecen ideas para mejorar la inversi & oacute;n privada en infraestructura, relevante tanto para los pa & iacute;ses neoliberales como para los no liberales que enfrentan restricciones presupuestarias.