From the classroom to the boardroom

"How can those who have no idea what to do after graduation or who can't find a job start an enterprise and provide jobs for others?" asked Wang, a native of Shenyang, Liaoning province.

"However, for youngsters like me, those with clear ideas and a firm conviction to start a business, have to benefit from the policies as much as possible," she said.

A burgeoning trend

Liu Wei and two classmates, who describe themselves as "homebodies", chose to create games for mobile phone apps, a burgeoning trend. One of them, Cai Haoyu, acts as CEO.

The computer science majors, who left Shanghai Jiao Tong University last year with master's degrees, registered an Internet technology company called MiHoyo.

So far, the only game they have developed is The End of School, an anime-style game similar to Super Mario. Since its launch in February, the game has been downloaded 300,000 times on the Chinese mainland, earning the three friends almost 600,000 yuan.

Liu said the game will be launched in the United States and Japan in the latter half of this year and they are happy hustling for business. However, two headaches remain; staff recruitment and raising capital.

"Veterans and top talents won't work for my small company, but those who do apply are unsatisfactory," said Liu.

"The three programmers I recruited were all recommended by friends, but that can't sustain the long-term need for employees," said the 26-year-old.

One way to attract talent is to offer better wages than larger companies, said Liu. However, his company can't afford to pay the average annual salary for a games programmer, roughly 200,000 yuan, so he is considering raising capital.

"I must be careful, because raising funds is like a marriage, but I won't have the opportunity to express regret and ask for a divorce," said Liu, commenting on the large number of legal disputes between investors and the enterprises they've backed.

Wang admitted that running a business is much harder than she had imagined.

"When we were looking for clients, people often looked down on us because of our age and lack of experience. My monthly plan is lagging behind," she said.

Niu Liben, chairman of the board of Fclub e-commerce (Shanghai) Co, said: "An old Chinese saying is: 'A man without downy lips makes thoughtless slips', so there is a traditional prejudice toward young people. It's harder for young people to attain a position and be competitive."

Niu, 38, started a business at the age of 22. However, he quickly realized that he wasn't ready for such an undertaking and decided to return to paid employment until he had sufficient experience to strike out on his own once again.

"Young people's passion is always appreciated, but they're also easily discouraged and swayed," he said.

Niu advised those thinking of starting a business, even those with clear entrepreneurial ideas and aptitude, to gain a couple of years' work experience. He emphasized that recent graduates, whose ideas may be immature, should definitely think twice.

Wu said,"The media mythologizes too many 'heroes', which makes youngsters take it for granted this is a fast and wide freeway. Actually they (the successes) are just one in a million and you never know what favorable factors may have contributed to their success."