Succession proves a tricky art in business

Looking at the experience overseas will also help teach China's rich second generation how to understand the differences between themselves and their parents, experts say.

The rich second generation have their own views on their fathers' careers. They say the sound environment created by reform and opening-up, opportunities and proper management were among the three most important factors that contributed to their fathers' success. And they attribute their fathers' success to their hard work and hardship endurance.

Roger King, director of the Tanoto Foundation Center for Asian Family Business and Entrepreneurship Studies at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, says: "Convincing the older generation to change has always been a challenge for the second generation, who need to find an appropriate way of communicating with their parents to help them understand modern business concepts."

So long as the younger and older generations have the same goal of preserving "wealth, legacy and harmony", they will be able to find a balanced way to create a smooth line of succession for the family businesses, King says.

Unlike their parents, who built their wealth from scratch, those of the second generation are often criticized for inheriting huge assets and are labeled as a generation with less responsibility and an inclination to hedonism.

But Chen says members of the Relay China Youth Elite Association do not sit idly by and enjoy the fruits of their parents' work. "Young successors are under more pressure because they have high beginnings," he says.

"We want to prove that the generation of the young rich can do family business well, contribute to society according to their abilities, and help with continued robust economic growth for China."

Yu Ran contributed to this story.