Start a business only with money you can afford to lose; don't touch the family's savings or borrow to open

High value
Evidence B
Saves money
Free
Takes minutes
Some willpower

In plain words

Debts of a sole proprietor (个体户) are paid from money and property in your own name. If it can't be told whether the whole family ran the business together, the whole family's property pays. Opening a company is not a safe harbor either: when the company can't pay its debts, the investment you promised but that is not yet due can be demanded early. So decide how much to put in by this test: even if it is all lost, you can still pay the mortgage and see a doctor.

Cost: Free. Before you start, set yourself a number: if this money were lost entirely, you could still pay the mortgage, raise your children and cover medical care. Don't put in more than that number. Money from family members and borrowed money don't count toward it. The hard part is holding back from adding more when the business starts to look promising.
What you get: A loss is more than lost money. For the debts of an individual business (个体工商户), if you ran it alone, you pay with money and property in your own name (personal property). If the whole family ran it, or it can't be told who ran it, the whole family's money and property pays (family property). A debt that both spouses signed is a joint debt that both repay. If one spouse approved it afterward, it counts too. If one spouse borrowed in their own name, the creditor can still have both repay, as long as the creditor can show the money went into a business the couple ran together. There is also a rule on the company side: when a company can't pay debts that are due, a shareholder's promised contribution to registered capital that has not yet reached its payment deadline (subscribed capital, 认缴出资) can be demanded early by the creditor (nationwide)
Notes: "Can afford to lose" means that if the money is entirely lost, you don't have to sell your home or borrow from relatives to fill the hole. No verifiable original source was found on the websites of the National Bureau of Statistics or the State Administration for Market Regulation for official statistics such as how many businesses survive and how many years they last on average. So the text gives no figures and only states the legal consequences, graded B.
Evidence grade: B : Supported by research but without a precise number, or based on small or single studies.
Sources: 全国人大 (2020). 民法典（第五十六、一千零六十四条）. https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/202006/t20200602_463888.shtml
全国人大常委会 (2023). 公司法（2023 年修订，第四十七、五十四条）. https://www.gov.cn/yaowen/liebiao/202312/content_6923395.htm

Mentioned in

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 12, tip 1. This section describes legal rules, mostly mainland China’s. It is general information, not legal advice; for your own case, talk to a lawyer. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer