A China Government Guidance Fund (Guidance Fund) is an investment vehicle set up as a public–private partnership that aims to further industrial policy goals of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It may either invest directly in companies or tangible projects, or invest indirectly by investing in other investment funds (known as sub-funds) through a fund of funds approach. The typical government guidance fund operates as a fund of funds.

In the mid-1990s, the PRC government began promoting industrial investment funds which were the predecessor of guidance funds.

The PRC government set up guidance funds to provide support for entrepreneurship and technological innovation of (but not limited to) startup companies, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. These funds raise money from both public and private sources and make investments consistent with government priorities such as artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, biomedicine, aerospace, or semiconductors. Most operate as funds of funds. The vast majority of funds are ultimately invested in strategic industries.

Government agencies at central, provincial, and local levels all establish guidance funds. This typically involves creating the fund, setting a fundraising target, financing 20%-30% of the target from the budget provided and raising the rest from other investors whose contributions are called "social capital". While these social capital investors are equated with private capital, they are often state-owned enterprises and public banks. To entice social capital investors, the government sponsor may assume investor losses, forgo interest payments or provide other incentives.

Guidance funds use a limited partnership structure where a general partner makes investment decisions and handles day-to-day operations while the limited partners contribute capital and take returns or losses. The general partner may be either a government-related or a third party investment manager. The Ministry of Finance has encouraged government officials to grant more autonomy to third party managers. The limited partners include the social capital investors.

Each guidance fund has its own investment objectives and restrictions. Some shall invest only in certain sectors or regions. The primary goal of government guidance funds is to attract industrial investment and resources rather than to maximize financial returns. Although it is permissible for government guidance funds to have losses, losses are politically risky for fund managers (who are often government employees).

There are three phases to the development of guidance funds. In the first phase, from the early to mid 2010s, the government set up a number of initial funds as well as the supporting legal framework. In the second phase, there was a boom in guidance funds set up between 2015 and 2018, fueled by factors such as government policies, loose regulation, restrictions on other spending and trend-chasing among government officials. In January 2015, Premier Li Keqiang chaired a meeting to set up national-level government guidance funds. In the third phase, starting around 2018, the pace of forming and fundraising for guidance funds slowed down due mostly to tighter regulations.

In 2002, one of the first guidance funds was launched in Beijing to support startup companies in Zhongguancun.