Young entrepreneurs attend a seminar in Galleon Cafe, a cafe for startups in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, on August 22 (XINHUA)

College students face a crossroads come graduation: Do they look for work at a company or small business or do they create their own? An increasing number in China are choosing the latter.

Zhaopin.com, a leading recruitment website in China, conducted a survey among 58,996 college students who graduated in 2015 earlier this year. It found that 6.3 percent of the respondents chose to start their own business, almost double the 3.2 percent reported in a similar survey in 2014.

This is a visible change for Chen Botao, a computer science major at Peking University. "We were joking several years ago, saying that if a signboard fell to the ground in Zhongguancun, known as Beijing's Silicon Valley, eight out of 10 people it might hit would be college students, as it is surrounded with many universities," Chen said. "But now, eight out 10 would be entrepreneurs."

Chen, 21, formed a business in 2014 with two of his classmates that develops apps for smartphones. They've seen a boom over the past year in the number of startups operating in Zhongguancun, along with clustering cafes and workshops for startups that are occupied by endless lectures and conversations on venture capital investment and initial public offerings.

"Living in such an atmosphere, inevitably you would want to give it a try, even though we don't treat our app business seriously." Chen said. "We do it more for fun."

Startups like Chen's are popping up around the country thanks to a series of preferential policies and encouragement for mass entrepreneurship and innovation from the government.

"Mass entrepreneurship and innovation can provide fair opportunities for all, especially the young, to improve their lives and achieve better careers through their own efforts," said Premier Li Keqiang while visiting an exhibition of innovative products in Beijing on October 19.

Zong Wenqi and Ni Jianling, both born after 1990, prepare to take photos for a pet dog in their studio in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, on September 24 (XINHUA)

Fewer barriers to entry

And now, it's even easier to start one.

Would-be entrepreneurs previously needed at least 50,000 yuan ($7,700) in registered capital to start a new company. The revised Companies Law, which went into force on March 1, 2014, removes that requirement. Now, all that is required is a name to register your company under. But those who don't want to go through the registration process can pay an agent a 400-yuan ($63) fee to do it for them.

The changes have led to a slight increase in the number of registered businesses. About 8.96 million new individual businesses were registered in 2014, a 5-percent increase over 2013's 8.53 million, according to statistics from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

Xue Lai, 22, dropped out of Carnegie Mellon University in the United States two years ago to start a business in China with two friends, both born after 1990.

"University, in my opinion, is a product of older times when the transportation and communication were not as convenient as today," Xue said. "So talented people could only gather at a campus to study together. Now it is not that necessary and we can take wonderful classes online, no matter where you are and who you are. So I don't want to waste time there."

For Xue, entrepreneurship is a way to bring change to the world. His team has developed a multi-touch sensor that allows users to operate computers without moving their hands between the mouse and keyboard.

Xue thinks his product will be a success.

"Now we just need to promote it to the market," Xue said. "I want our company to last for more than 100 years, so there's no hurry. We have patience."

Xue's parents, though, are not so happy with Xue's choice to leave university. "Both my parents teach at colleges, so it might not be acceptable for their son to not finish college," Xue said. "After my company is on a good path, I might go back to university to get a degree. Who knows?"

Wang Yanbin, a 23-year-old student from Tsinghua University who wanted to run a business startup after graduation, also couldn't make his parents accept his decision.

"They still regard entrepreneurship as a choice for losers," Wang said. "They wanted me to go work at a giant state-owned enterprise with stable pay, and I initially surrendered."

But Wang didn't give up his plan. He now spends eight hours working his stable job and another eight hours on his business project each day.

"I've never had a big dream like changing the world or being a billionaire or something," Wang said. "There are always some sparkling ideas in my mind and I want to make them into real products."

Make it a lifestyle

Innovation is seen as a new one for youth to make a name for themselves and be successful thanks to idols like Jack Ma, CEO of China's largest online shopping kingdom Alibaba, or younger entrepreneurs like Yu Jiawen, a 25-year-old Guangzhou University graduate who received a 10-million-yuan ($1.57 million) investment in 2014 for his startup company.

"Jack Ma seems quite far removed from us. But Yu is our age, and if he can be so successful, it leaves no reason for us not to give it a try," said 24-year-old Zhu Yuqing in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, where Alibaba is headquartered. With a passion to be a successful entrepreneur, Zhu moved into the city's Dream Town Zone, which has gathered more than 300 innovative projects and 4,100 people with startups.

But the headlines and success stories are not indicative of the reality for most startups.

"The shining stories of the business stars have weaved dreams for the youngsters and everybody regards business success as an easy-to-get thing, which is far from true," said Li Yuncheng, a Beijing-based investment consultant.

He revealed that there are quite a few new companies who made up the amount of investment they received. "When they get an investment of 1 million yuan ($157,000), they would tell people that they get 5 million yuan ($785,000) or even more," Li said, adding that industry insiders have also doubted the amount invested in Yu's company.

"Figures show that among 100 new companies, less than three can live up to five years, which means most of the companies will die in a few years," Li warned.

Guo Hong, Director of the Zhongguancun Administrative Committee, disagrees. He thinks there is no success or failure in startups. Rather, it's a lifestyle choice.

Zong Wenqi and Ni Jianling, both born after 1990, opened a pet photography workshop in Nantong, a medium-sized city in Jiangsu Province. Their parents lent them money to buy a camera and rent a workshop for the business.

"We enjoy getting to record happy moments for the pets and their owners," Zong said. "We are lucky to work on the things that we really love."

Yang Fan, a sophomore student and local in Jinan, Shandong Province, opened a small pavilion at Qushuiting Street, a tourist destination in Jinan, selling postcards printed with scenery from around the city.

"You don't need to have a huge goal to have a business," Yang said. "As long as you have unique ideas, it is not that difficult to put them into reality. I love my hometown and want more people to come and visit. These postcards can be my invitations."

Copyedited by Jordyn Dahl

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