A new film about how three college graduates launched their private English training school in China has topped the box office since hitting the screens one week ago.

The success of the film, American Dreams in China, is partly due to its appeal to the many people who either run or dream of launching their own start-up business.

China's economic reform since the 1980s has made it possible for many Chinese entrepreneurs to run successful businesses, and founding a company has become a fashionable trend, especially for young people.

Recent media reports said that college graduates are facing the most difficult situation ever to get a job this year, with nearly 7 million graduates across the country competing to find work. The central government has also encouraged young people to start their own businesses, partly because that can create more jobs.

However, people are realizing that it is more competitive now than three decades ago when fewer people had the ambition to start a private business, and having courage and enthusiasm are no longer enough - other skills are also required.

"It is cool, but more difficult than you might imagine," Gong Xiaosi, a 26-year-old woman who founded investment company KG Inc, said at the APEC Young Entrepreneurs' Summit in Beijing on May 24.

The summit was organized by the China Council for International Trade and the APEC Business Advisory Council. Most of the attendants plan to start their own business.

Not just enthusiasm

Gong's father is an entrepreneur who quit his job at a State-owned company in a small city, Huaying in Sichuan Province, in 1992. He then started his own machinery business in Chengdu, the provincial capital.

Gong took over her father's business in 2008, since when she has tripled the company's annual output value.

Gong also launched her investment company KG Inc after taking over her family business.

However, she found it was quite different from operating a family business.

"You must do everything by yourself when you start a business. No one serves you - you serve others," she said.

Gong would be considered lucky by many Chinese people, because she is one of the group of people called "Fu Er Dai," or the rich second generation.

But Gong said business success is not only based on being enthusiastic as well as coming from a wealthy background; the key factor is a manager's capacity for hard work. She used to live and work at the construction site with the workers to get a better idea of their working conditions.

Chinese people from less wealthy families are also enthusiastic about starting their own businesses, but they usually have more modest ambitions.

Zhu Fushun, the founder of Chengdu Liujige Family Farm, comes from a small village in Sichuan Province. He started his business in 2007 because his only child became seriously ill and he needed to earn a lot of money to pay the high medical fees.

Zhu started with an investment of only 50,000 yuan ($8,145), but he had a total sales volume of 50 million yuan last year.

His main product is eggs that have green shells, which Zhu said are good for your health.

But Zhu's products were not accepted by the market initially because green shells are unusual and consumers were concerned they might have been dyed.

To build trust, Zhu spent a month carrying two baskets of green eggs to the gate of the Chengdu municipal government building, waiting for officials who are in charge of enterprise development. 

Finally the government agreed to promote his products after an examination by a quality inspection department proved his eggs were safe.

Zhu's case is typical among many startup owners, who have no personal connections with other companies or the government.

"Support from the government always plays an important role in the success of a business in China," Zhu told the Global Times.

Find a way to stand out

Inspired by the entrepreneurial success of businessmen like Jack Ma Yun, the founder of Alibaba Group, many young people have tried to set up e-commerce websites.

Group-buying websites became popular in 2010, and 6,177 of these websites had been launched in China by the end of 2012, but 56 percent of them also closed quickly, the China E-commerce Research Center said in a report released in January.

"Starting a business that is different from others is the key to success," He Xia, the founder of household services company Shandong Happy All Group, said at the summit.

He Xia was a laid-off worker before she started her business in 2005. Her company offered not only household services for customers but also training for job seekers in the sector, which was the main difference from rival companies.

He eventually expanded and set up more training schools, and has helped 30,000 women find jobs so far.

A suitable business

Although young people are enthusiastic about being entrepreneurs, most of their start-ups fail "because they choose the wrong projects," Wei Jianguo, deputy director-general of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a government think tank, said at the summit.

"When thinking about a business, most people first consider whether they have connections with related sales channels, not whether the business is appropriate for them," said Wei.

Jack Ma Yun of Alibaba has said at several public occasions that people should look for a project in an area they know about or enjoy, rather than simply chasing profits.

"My major in university was machinery design, but I chose to start a business in the agricultural sector mainly because I am the son of a farmer and really love working on a farm and being innovative with the business model," Zhu said.

Analysts said viewers of the film about the English school may come out of the cinema feeling inspired to start their own firms, but they will need to temper their enthusiasm with a dose of realism as well.