Dreaming in Chinese

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Money, however, comes with its own problems. In 2006, New Oriental became the first Chinese educational institution listed on the New York Stock Exchange, but as the company grew, Yu and his co-founders Xu Xiaoping and Wang Qiang started to clash. Xu and Wang are no longer managing New Oriental and run their own venture capital firm.

Chan's film ends when the company is listed on the NYSE.

"Before the company gets listed, the shares the three friends fight for stand for dignity, but after entering the stock market, the shares stand for real money, that is when things get ugly," he says.

He does not want to make a Chinese version of The Social Network, David Fincher's film about the founding of Facebook that features the breakdown of the relationship between the founders.

"If my film has a sequel, that could be another The Social Network," the 51-year-old director says. "It is not that I am more optimistic about humanity now, I am not, but at my age I have accepted the fact that life is unhappy and humanity is flawed. I cannot change it, but I no longer want it to bother me."

American Dreams in China is therefore not a deep exploration of modern business but focuses more on how the three good friends work together to establish the company and how their friendship survives in the business world.

"This is a film that makes me happy and I am sure the audiences happy, too," he says.

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