Hong Kong director Peter Chan's film American Dreams in China has grossed 300 million yuan ($48 million) since its May 17 premiere.

Chan with four protagonists in American Dreams in China at a Beijing promotion. Jiang Dong / China Daily

The film, set against the opening and reform of China in the late 1980s, traces how three friends set up the biggest English training institute in China.

At a recent party attended by Chan and lead actors Huang Xiaoming, Tong Dawei and Deng Chao, Chan emphasizes that the film is not a depiction of New Oriental, a large educational service organization in China, although its founders share similar life experiences with the characters. The film is more about the past 30 years the Chinese people have been through, he said.