20-30% of Chinese grads aspire to self-employment, few succeed

Quitting her job as receptionist, joining rock bands and chancing her tattoo-sleeved arm at small business ventures would once have branded college graduate Ding Jia as a rebel in China. Now she can claim state endorsement as a "creative".

大学毕业生丁佳放弃前台接待员的工作，加入摇滚乐队以及创办小企业，这一度让她被视为另类。现在她可以说自己是"创客"。

"I haven't had a formal job in years," said Ding, 31, sitting in her tiny coffee and cocktails bar on a trendy Shanghai street. She has no regrets, but no illusions either.

31岁的丁佳在她上海的小咖啡馆里说道："我多年来没有正式工作，"但她不后悔，但也没有幻想。

"Entrepreneurship can be a really hard experience," she said. "Profits can be so thin."

"创业确实很难，"她说："利润也很低。"

While most parents might warn their children off high-risk, low-reward self-employment, preferring jobs in government or state-owned enterprises, Ding says her Shanghai nurse mother and cab driver father were supportive.

大多数家长会提醒孩子不要进行高风险、低回报的创业活动，他们更加青睐在政府或国有企业工作，但丁佳称她的父母支持她。她的母亲是一名保姆，父亲是一名出租车司机。

recent graduates who start their own businesses are being hailed in state media as a new creative class that will build China's Silicon Valley.

官方媒体亦称赞刚毕业就开始创业的学生们，称他们是有创新精神的新一代，将建设中国的硅谷。

In addition to warm words, many are receiving training, subsidies, free office space and other support from district governments and universities.

除了舆论支持，很多人还获得了来自政府和大学的培训、补贴、免费的办公空间和其他支持。

Optimists hope the next Jack Ma or Mark Zuckerberg will emerge from this pool, but sceptics say the policy is setting up inexperienced kids for failure.

乐观者期待下一个马云或是扎克伯格将从这些人中产生，但怀疑论者表示政策正在让缺少经验的孩子们走向失败。

A Peking University study found that entry-level salaries in Shanghai averaged just 3,241 yuan ($511) a month.

北京大学的研究显示，上海基层职员的平均月薪只有3241元。

Chinese surveys show 20-30 percent of college students now aspire to entrepreneurship or self-employment, and Cui Ernan, labour analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics, said official data suggests they are following through. Though undergraduate numbers swelled to record highs last year, the number seeking work in the formal job market appeared to shrink.

中国的调查表明，两三成的大学生现在想创业。龙洲经讯分析师Cui Ernan指出，官方数据暗示他们在响应政府的号召。尽管去年本科毕业生数量创纪录高位，求职者的人数却似乎在下降。

Parker Liu, currently COO of a mobile technology startup in Beijing, began launching new companies before he graduated. He said district officials regularly scoured entrepreneurship events seeking startups to subsidise, often on the understanding that the company would register in their district.

北京一家移动技术创业公司现任首席运营官Parker Liu还没毕业的时候就开始办公司。他表示，地区官员定期走访创业活动，寻找创业公司提供补贴，条件往往是该公司将注册在他们的辖区内。

Liu said he had received small subsidies from district governments and helped introduce officials to other startups, but was doubtful about the benefits.

Parker Liu称，他从地区官员那里获得了小规模的补贴，并帮忙给官员们介绍其他的创业公司，但他对发挥的作用存有疑问。

"The real problem is the money doesn't come with education … These government officers, they didn't know much about entrepreneurs or startups, but they know a lot about political evaluations. They have a quota."

"真正的问题是钱并不是和教育一起来……这些政府官员对创业知之甚少，但对政治很了解。他们有指标。"

Liu said the support also encouraged too many into sectors with low barriers to entry, such as e-commerce, mobile games, and college prep schools.

Parker Liu还表示，政府的支持鼓励太多人进入门槛低的行业，比如电子商务、手机游戏和大学预科。

"In terms of helping the job market, this sort of thing is of marginal benefit," said Geoffrey Crothall, communications director at China Labour Bulletin.

"这些方法对促进就业的帮助有限，"中国劳工通讯（China Labour Bulletin）的传媒总监Geoffrey Crothall说道。

While official data is scant, failure rates appear unsurprisingly high.

尽管鲜有官方统计数据，但创业失败率似乎是出人意料的高。

"They have very poor management skills," said Cui of Dragonomics. "Most of the businesses run by college students I observe, only a few of them succeeded."

"他们的管理技能很差，"Cui Ernan表示。"我看到的很多大学生创业者中，只有极少数会成功。"