“It should be acknowledged that the private sector is experiencing difficulties that are real, and even quite severe,” Mr. Xi said at a meeting with more than 50 selected businesspeople. “Private businesses and businesspeople are one of us.”

Such reassurances may now mean little to Mr. Zhao.

A former soldier, Mr. Zhao went into business after quitting his job for a supplies company in 1991. He made his fortune as a construction contractor and later plowed his earnings into the mining investment.

Mr. Zhao, 52, was among the entrepreneurs who plunged into business after Deng Xiaoping, then China’s paramount leader, unleashed market overhauls. At the time, Mr. Zhao said, entrepreneurs were like famished goats set free from a pen and allowed to flourish.

“But we’re seeing this vitality steadily shrink,” he said.

Since 2005, he has been fighting for the right to explore more than 100 square miles of sandy, scrub-covered land on the fringe of Yulin, a coal-rich city in Shaanxi Province. After initial surveys indicated that the land was abundant in coal, the mining institute that had sold an 80 percent share of exploration rights to Mr. Zhao’s company canceled the contract, citing government orders.

Mr. Zhao waged a legal fight that took him all the way to China’s top court, the Supreme People’s Court.

His chances of victory seemed slim. In China, judges answer to the party. While courts have greater autonomy than before in business disputes, they often rule in favor of officials and their allies.