Premier meets with group of innovators over coffee

Visit to Zhongguancun seen as a gesture of government's support for startup businesses

As Premier Li Keqiang raised his black mug of coffee at a 3W Cafe, a meeting place for budding entrepreneurs and angel investors in Zhongguancun, Beijing's technology hub in the Haidian district, he stopped to read the phrase printed on its side: "Life is limited, but zheteng is not."

"Ah, zheteng," he said, a Chinese term that means to toil and bustle around something that is likely futile. "That really sums up innovation."