Analysis | Could start-ups revitalise the Chinese economy? The government thinks so

From Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to mainland internet industry tycoon Pony Ma Huateng or any college student in a coffee shop, start-ups are one of the most popular topics on people's lips in the worlds largest economy today.

The louder the buzz around Chinese start-ups becomes, the more concerns will naturally grow. The key question facing both Li and potential start-up founders is whether the current wave of eager investors are actually indicative of another dotcom bubble. If that is the case, the outlook for the Chinese economy, already in its worst shape in more than two decades, could soon be in even greater risk than even the worse projections. 

“This year there are 7.49 million university graduates and that is record high,” Li said in his working report on Thursday at the opening of the annual session of National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing.

Encouraging university students to start their own businesses is important, and the government will “support business start-ups for new industries,” Li added.

Indeed, some mainland universities have recently allowed students to take leave to start their own businesses and many are seriously considering doing so and following in the footsteps of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who dropped out of Harvard in 2004. However, some analysts have argued that the country would do best to focus on industrial development.