Han Nianshi had responsibility thrust upon him when his father's illness meant he had to return home to take the reins of the family business a lot sooner than he'd anticipated, Qiu Bo reports in London.

Five years ago Han Nianshi lived a happy student life and dreamed of settling down overseas for a "white-collar life" after graduation.

But things suddenly changed one day when he received a telephone call from home, informing him that his father was gravely ill and asking him to return home.

Returning meant not only looking after his father for a short time, but also to accept responsibility for his family business in Suzhou, where his father was one of the most famous entrepreneurs.

"I always knew it was my responsibility to take over the family business. But it just all came too soon," Han recalls.

Han had to learn many basic skills and knowledge about managing the family business from scratch. He admits that frustration was common, especially in his first year.

But the 27-year-old is now a calm and confident young man.

Last year, he was ranked by Forbes China as one of China's richest under the age of 30. He was the second youngest on the list.

Han is one typical example of the rich second generation in China, the children of the first batch of China's private entrepreneurs who have grown immensely rich since reform and opening-up. As their parents have approached, reached and passed retirement age, this generation, many born in the 1980s, have been groomed to take over the family concern.

But questions often surface about what form the family business will continue in and the risks that it will face after the reins change hands.

Han's father Zhang Jiyi founded his business in 1984. It's an outboard engine manufacturer in Suzhou with substantial exports to Africa and Asia. He is among China's first wave of private-sector entrepreneurs.

Zhang, who is one of Suzhou's earliest millionaires on record, devoted 21 years of tough time to manufacturing and creating the family business.

But Zhang understood that he could not be with the company forever due to his deteriorating health, so he always placed an expectation on his son to take over the family business.

In 2008, Zhang retired and officially nominated Han (who took his mother's maiden name) as chairman of the family business.

Since then, Zhang has scarcely shown up at the office, but he continued to cast a shadow on Han as he took on his new role, and there was a period of much bitterness between father and son during the first year of transition.

"My father ordered me to only work with the management team and leave specific decisions to the people in charge of each department. But I wanted to be more specific about management plans," says Han.

The global financial crisis of 2008 was a particularly tough time for Zhang and Han, when the company's outboard engine sales were severely reduced.

At the time, the company's management team suggested producing a conservative budget for the upcoming year, but Han had different ideas. "They aimed at breaking even, but I knew we could do better," he says.

Despite Zhang's suggestion otherwise, Han made his own investigations into what was a realistic target prior to the annual company meeting and presented his findings to management, whom he then successfully convinced to target a risky 30-50 percent growth goal.

After a year of hard work, Han and his team managed to achieve the sales target.

In 2012, the company's annual production capacity surpassed 100,000 units, making it one of the biggest outboard engine suppliers globally.

Despite such impressive results, Zhang never sings Han's praises in front of him. Han admits Zhang's attitude bothered him for a while, until he learned about his father's true opinion of him from his mother.

Despite the pride Zhang has expressed in his son, he still disapproves of the young man's lifestyle preferences sometimes, perhaps demonstrating a cultural difference between two generations of Chinese entrepreneurs in today's society.

As Zhang is a self-made man who became rich through extremely hard work in a difficult climate, he is conservative in a lot of things, particularly in the areas of enjoyment and entertainment.

Han prefers fashion, humor, the Internet, and other lifestyle aspects that may seem incongruous with his chairman title. He says he once told his father that he fantasizes a dream life in a beach house, sailing and hiking all day. "All I would need to do then is listen to management's report," he says.

Such a thought is sniffed at with disapproval by his father. "My father believes successful business owners should always suffer from insomnia, which demonstrates that they care very much about their businesses. But I think good performance always comes from good rest," Han says, adding he is determined to keep his goals and dreams.

"I don't mind if people call me a rich-second-generation child or whatever other names. The most important thing is to do my job well and maintain my independent thinking," Han says.

Contact the writer at qiubo@chinadaily.com.cn.

Second generation businessman Han Nianshi was ranked by Forbes China as one of the country's richest under-30s. At 27, he was the second youngest on the list. Provided to China Daily

(China Daily 11/10/2013 page4)