The commercial success of many high-profile Chinese entrepreneurs appears to have done little to encourage young Chinese college graduates to become their own boss. According to a recent report, only 1.6% of Chinese college graduates started businesses last year, essentially flat with the year before.

Also, while young Americans often look to create the next Facebook, China\'s budding business owners start out with lower skills and more modest ambitions.

The \'2012 Graduate Employment Report,\' released last week by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and MyCOS Research Institute, a Beijing-based education consultancy, shows that vocational-college graduates were more keen on starting businesses than those graduating from four-year colleges--with a ratio of 2.2% compared with 1% respectively.

The report showed that a large share of young entrepreneurs are based in China\'s less developed central and western areas, painting a picture of the typical Chinese entrepreneur as a restaurant owner or a pig farmer.

The vast majority of graduates received their funding from their parents and relatives--80% of four-year graduates and 82% of vocational-college graduates--while most Western young entrepreneurs are funded by so-called angel investors and public sources, such as government or university-based funds.

According to the study, arts and design majors were prominent among Chinese start-up entrepreneurs with four-year degrees, while among vocational-college graduates logistics-management studies was a common major, with many graduates setting up e-commerce or transportation and storage businesses.

Even though business competitions in China sponsored by government and universities to boost young entrepreneurship draw a lot of entries, many participants are not actually competing for future business. According to a survey conducted by Xiamen University, 53% of participants in its university business competition claimed that they entered to gain more work experience and contacts to help them in their future job hunt.

A number of academic surveys indicate that while Western graduates benefit from business-focused college courses where critical thinking is encouraged, Chinese students often put little value on creativity and refrain from taking risks, a trait researchers attribute to a Chinese education system traditionally based on rote learning.

Lack of angel capital investors are also blamed for the comparatively small number of start-ups. \'It is difficult for young entrepreneurs to find investment,\' said Li Kaifu, chief executive of Innovation Works, at a conference in April.

To be sure, plenty of high-skill, high-tech businesses are started in China every day, especially in the coastal provinces and major cities. And funding opportunities are growing. \'The potential of domestic angel investment is huge and will be vital for China\'s business ecosystem,\' Mr. Li said in April.

Xue Manzi, a prominent Chinese angel capital investor, said in a business competition this February that China\'s entrepreneur environment is second only to that of the U.S. However, he said, innovation remains a problem.

\'Capital is not the issue, but a good project. Some start-up programs by Chinese students are simply copycats,\' he said.
中国诸多知名企业家在商业方面的成功似乎并没有对中国大学生毕业后创业起到什么鼓励作用。最近一份报告显示，去年中国只有1.6%的大学毕业生选择创业，比例与前年基本持平。

美国的年轻人通常希望创造出下一个Facebook，而中国年轻创业者具备的技能更低，抱负也没那么大。

Getty Images南京举行的一场招聘会被大学毕业生挤得水泄不通。中国社会科学院(Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)与北京教育咨询机构麦可思研究院(MyCOS Research Institute)上周发布了《2012年中国大学生就业报告》。报告显示，高职高专毕业生的创业热情高于四年制本科毕业生，前者的自主创业比例是2.2%，后者仅为1%。

报告显示，年轻人中相当大一部分是在中国欠发达的中西部地区创业，一般是开餐馆或办养猪场。

绝大多数毕业生的创业资金来自父母和亲戚（本科毕业生中这个比例为80%，高职高专毕业生为82%），而在西方，大多数年轻创业者会从天使投资人以及政府或大学基金等公共渠道获取资金。

报告显示，在中国本科毕业生创业大军中，比较突出的是艺术和设计专业的学生，而在高职毕业生中，物流管理专业的创业者则很常见，很多学生毕业后会去做电子商务或搞运输仓储。

在中国，虽然政府和大专院校为鼓励年轻人创业组织了各种商业竞赛，也吸引了大批前来报名的人，但很多人参赛并不是为了能够未来创业。据厦门大学(Xiamen University)一项调查显示，参加该校商业竞赛的人有53%声称，他们参赛是为了获得更多工作经验，积累更多人脉，以帮助他们日后找工作。

一些学术调查报告显示，西方大学毕业生获益于那些鼓励批判性思考的商务课程，而中国学生往往不怎么重视创造性，也不愿承担风险。研究人员认为，中国学生的这个特点是历来只注重死记硬背的中国教育制度造成的。

另外，缺少天使投资人也被认为是中国创业者数量相对较少的原因之一。创新工场(Innovation Works)首席执行长李开复今年4月在一个会议上说，年轻创业者很难找到投资。

当然，中国每天都有很多需要高技能人才的高科技企业成立，特别是在中国沿海省份和主要城市。另外，融资机会也在不断增多。李开复4月份时说，国内天使投资潜力巨大，对中国商业生态系统来说非常重要。

中国知名天使投资人薛蛮子今年2月在一个商业竞赛中说，中国的创业环境仅次于美国。不过他说，创新仍是个问题。

薛蛮子说，现在的问题不是缺资本，而是缺好项目，中国大学生的一些创业项目完全是山寨品。