This thesis develops and applies an original conceptual and methodological approach to the study of new venture creation in two Chinese subcultures: Hong Kong and Shanghai. Primary attention is given to processes of new venture creation which, it is argued, provides the study with a more appropriate conceptual base for investigating the complex web of elements affecting the way individuals organise resources to create new ventures. A process view of new venture creation provides for more sophisticated theorising on entrepreneurship issues, such as capital, opportunity, human resources, personality traits, and the micro and macro environment. Although the approach developed within the thesis is aimed at advancing understanding of entrepreneurship generally, the analysis is based on fieldwork material collected from two Chinese subcultures. Here the aim is to understand Chinese entrepreneurship and thus Chinese economic success. Chinese business and entrepreneurship literatures are, therefore, examined. Three conceptual themes: institutionalisation, sensemaking/enactment and social embeddedness, are integrated to form the analytical framework of the thesis. Most existing entrepreneurship studies see entrepreneurship as an outcome of the availability of certain factors such as personality traits, capital, opportunity, risk, human resources, economic structure, state policy, and the social/cultural environment. As a result, these studies tend to focus their research on specific factors as if these are concrete, static elements that exist out there'. This study, however, develops a social constructionist view of new venture creation and argues that new venture creation is a consequence of individuals' ongoing sensemaking and enactment of their environment. It is the institutionalised meanings of entrepreneurship that shape the way individuals make sense and enact their environment, thus giving rise to the behaviour of new venture creation. Therefore to understand entrepreneurship, it is essential to understand the institutionalised meanings of entrepreneurship and how they are realised in the two Chinese subcultures. Emphasis is placed on how and why these meanings are shared, shaped and institutionalised and how these in turn shape the way individuals make sense and enact their environment. The study is conducted through an interpretive, reflexive and ethnographic-style of fieldwork. By analysing how informants from the two Chinese subcultures talk about the different aspects of entrepreneurship, key themes related to entrepreneurship in the Chinese context are identified, further explored and analysed. In particular, the way in which these meanings are shared, shaped and institutionalised are comparatively examined. Following from this, the manner in which these institutionalised meanings then shape the distinguishable characteristics of Chinese business and the pattern of new venture creation are examined. Through investigation of the institutionalised meanings of entrepreneurship, this thesis argues that a social constructionist approach advances understandings of entrepreneurship in general and Chinese entrepreneurship in particular.