In the cold basement of an office block in northwest Beijing, a group of would-be entrepreneurs huddle¹ around a computer screen, poring over their latest prototype. A few miles away, in a well-heated and distinctly more luxurious² underground lecture room, a group of 30 managers and entrepreneurs also debate ideas for new products and ventures.

在北京西北部一栋办公楼的冷飕飕的地下室里，一群未来的创业者们正聚集在电脑屏幕前，注视着最新的项目雏形。而在几英里之外，在一个暖气充足、明显更为豪华的地下演讲厅里，30名经理和创业者也在讨论有关新产品和新公司的创意。

Both groups are testament³ to the growing appetite for start-ups in China. Just as business schools in the US and Europe have reported a surge in student interest in running their own companies, business schools operating in China are also reporting a thirst for all things entrepreneurial.

这两群人都验证着中国对初创企业日益增长的兴趣。就在美欧商学院表示学员对自己创业的兴趣飙升时，在中国的商学院也发现了学员对一切跟创业有关的东西的渴望。

“Start-ups are the new sexy thing,” says Yi Wang, co-founder and chief executive of Liu Li Shuo, which developed an English language app for Chinese smartphone users, the only education app selected by Apple in the 2013 App of the year award in China.

“英语流利说”联合创始人兼首席执行官王翌表示：“初创企业是一个吸引人的新鲜事物。”该公司为中国智能手机用户开发了一款英语学习应用，这是中国唯一一款入选苹果(Apple)2013年年度最佳应用奖的教育应用。

“Definitely you’re seeing an increasing trend in entrepreneurship in China. Top-tier venture capital firms are looking for young entrepreneurs — there’s a whole ecosystem⁴ coming up,” Mr Wang enthuses. “In recent years companies that have been making the biggest impact on people’s lives have been internet companies and behind them encouraging stories about ordinary people making it big.”

“你明明白白地看到中国的创业热正日益升温。一线风投正在物色年轻的创业者，整个生态系统已经形成。”王翌热情洋溢地说，“最近几年，那些对人们生活产生最大影响的企业一直是互联网企业，在它们背后都是普通人取得成功的励志故事。”

Mr Wang is one of the participants on the 10-week Stanford Ignite programme, which the Silicon⁵ Valley business school ran in Beijing for the first time in October and November. There, in the Stanford building in the heart of the Peking University campus, a select group of 30 entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs devise business plans that may one day prove to be highly successful companies.

王翌是斯坦福大学(Stanford)为期10周的“点燃”项目(Ignite)的参与者，这家硅谷商学院于今年10月和11月首次在北京启动该项目。在位于北京大学校园中心的斯坦福大学中心，30名被选中的创业者和企业内创业者(intrapreneurs)在制定商业计划，这些计划可能会在未来某天造就极其成功的企业。

Mr Wang’s own history is typical of many of China’s new breed of entrepreneurs, he says. He went to the US to study for his PhD, worked for Google for two years and then returned to Shanghai to work for an internet marketing⁶ company. His two co-founders report a similar history. As more and more Chinese students study overseas, behaviour at home is changing rapidly, with young people eschewing⁷ the traditional large corporation he says.

王翌表示，他的个人经历是中国很多新型创业者的典型。他曾赴美国攻读博士，在谷歌(Google)工作过两年，然后回到了上海，供职于一家互联网营销公司。他的两名联合创始人的经历也差不多。他说，随着越来越多的中国学生到海外留学，国内的择业模式也在迅速变化，年轻人不愿到传统的大公司任职。

The sentiment is echoed in the spartan⁸ basement that is Tsinghua University’s x-lab, where angel investors⁹ rub shoulders with students and alumni from across the university, arguably China’s most prestigious¹⁰. Between them they are developing everything from the latest electrically powered scooter to moderately priced 3D printers and wearable health monitors.

这种想法在清华大学x-lab所在的简朴的地下室里得到了共鸣，在这里，天使投资者正与这所大学的学生和校友们交流，清华大学可以说是中国最知名的大学。他们正开发一切产品，从最新的电动摩托车、到价格适中的3D打印机、再到可穿戴健康监测设备。

Since the x-lab launched 18 months ago, some 400 start-ups have used the facilities, says Pearl Mao, executive director. Close to 300 of them continue to flourish and more than 30 of them already have substantial funding.

x-lab执行主任毛东辉表示，自从18个月前创建以来，已有约400家初创企业使用过x-lab的设施。其中近300家仍继续蓬勃发展，逾30家已获得数目可观的融资。

What is more, every Thursday the x-lab’s team holds project meetings and each week 10 new ventures pitch to become part of x-lab. Those that succeed can use the facilities free of charge

另外，x-lab团队每周四举行项目会议，每周有10个新项目为了入驻x-lab进行宣讲。成功入选的项目可以免费使用x-lab的设施。

Michael Ma, who graduated from Tsinghua SEM in 2006 with an Executive MBA, fits the bill. He believes there is much to be done in creating English language teaching technology. “China is the biggest market for foreign language learning in the world,” he points out.

2006年毕业于清华经管学院、获得EMBA学位的马涛(Michael Ma)，符合清华x-lab的要求。他认为，英语教学技术的开发还有很大的空间。“中国是全球最大的外语学习市场，”他指出。

His company, Beijing Peapad Education and Technology, targets parents of young children with its small, green, talking pea character, which is controlled through a parent’s smartphone and uses songs and games to teach English.

他的公司名为北京豌豆派教育科技(Beijing Peapad Education and Technology)，针对的是儿童家长，提供一个小小的、会说话的绿色豌豆角色，由家长通过智能手机控制豌豆，用歌曲和游戏教儿童学英语。

“There was no such product in the market. We think it is important for Chinese kids to learn English,” he says. “Also we believe there is a lot of money to be made in the industry.”

“现在市场上还没有这类产品。我们认为，对于中国的孩子来说，学英语很重要。”他表示，“我们还认为，这个行业蕴含很大的商机。”

Mr Ma has ambitions for the Peapad to be on the market in the first half of 2015, and will offer the Peapad hardware for free, with parents buying software, services and access to the community.

马涛希望豌豆派能在2015年上半年投入市场，豌豆派硬件将免费提供，家长须付费购买软件、服务以及访问社区的权限。

“Our ambition is a bit more than language learning,” he says. “There is no smart device [like this] in the market for kids. We believe in the next 10 years this will be a real trend.

“我们的理想其实更远大一点，不仅仅是想做语言学习。”他表示，“市场上没有（类似的）针对孩子的智能设备。我们认为，未来10年，这将变成一个真正的趋势。

“Currently early childhood education is offline all over China, but we believe over the next few years it will all go online. Hardware is a channel and we are providing the channel.”

“目前，中国的儿童早教都是线下的，但我们认为，未来几年，早教将全面转移到线上。硬件是一个渠道，我们正在提供这种渠道。”

In developing his product Mr Ma has taken advantage of other start-up ventures in the x-lab — a computer graphics¹¹ company helped design the website and Peapad games and a 3D printing firm helped develop a scale model. The x-lab offers legal advice on patents and access to Tsinghua’s industrial design centre as well as advice from angel investors and venture capitalists.

在开发产品的过程中，马涛得到了x-lab其他初创企业的帮助，一家电脑制图公司帮助其设计了公司网站和豌豆派游戏，一家3D打印公司帮助制作了一个比例模型。x-lab提供有关专利的法律建议，并向初创企业开放清华工业设计中心，同时帮助它们从天使投资者和风险资本家那里获得建议。

It has also performed a more specific educational role, acting¹² as the intersection¹³ between Tsinghua’s academic departments, says Ms Mao. So far between 10 and 20 per cent of all Tsinghua students are involved in some way.

毛东辉表示，x-lab还发挥了特殊的教育作用，成为清华各院系之间的桥梁。目前，在清华大学所有学生中，有10%至20%的学生以某种程度参与了该项目。

Stanford Ignite faculty¹⁴ director Yossi Feinberg says that while New York is the home of media start-ups and Silicon Valley of biomedical and technology companies, there is demand across the board in China. “China is everything. There is a lot of low-hanging fruit.”

斯坦福大学“点燃”项目主管约西•范伯格(Yossi Feinberg)表示，纽约是很多媒体初创企业的大本营，硅谷聚集着生物医疗和科技公司，但在中国，各种需求都有。“中国意味着一切。有很多唾手可得的机会。”

The growing middle class in China means high demand, but this can in turn create issues, says Prof Feinberg. “The biggest problem to any venture in China to me is the [low] barriers to entry. The only barrier is, can you create something big enough so others can’t enter the market.”

范伯格教授表示，中国日益壮大的中产阶级意味着需求高涨，但这反过来也可能造成问题，“在我看来，在中国创业的最大问题是准入门槛（低）。唯一的门槛是你能否做大，大到让其他人无法进入这个市场。”

Now the entrepreneurial genie¹⁵ is out of the bottle, Mr Wang says it is unlikely the process can be reversed. His company resembles a US internet start-up, with free meals and company-funded holidays. Why would people who have operated in this environment all their working lives want to work for a state-owned enterprise, he asks.

如今，中国的创业“精灵”已经被放出瓶子，王翌表示，把它塞回去是不太可能的。他的公司好似一家美国互联网初创企业，提供免费的餐食和带薪休假。他问道，一个一直在这种环境下工作的人有什么理由会希望供职于国有企业呢？