108 Chinese Billionaires And Growing
Chinese Billionaires On The Rise
China has more billionaires than any country except the United States, as soaring stock and property prices helped to boost wealth among the country’s super-rich. The number of Chinese worth $1 billion or more jumped to 108, from 15 last year, growing much faster than in western countries. There’s still plenty of growth opportunity as China’s top entrepreneurs turn their sights to the vast underdeveloped and largely unregulated economic hinterland.
Yang Huiyan, 25, tops the list after receiving $17.5 billion from her property developer father. Last year’s champion, Zhang Yin, fell to second place even as her wealth tripled to $10 billion after a surge in the share price of Nine Dragons Paper. Zhang, the world’s richest self-made woman, continues to widen the wealth gap with western counterparts such as U.S. television host Oprah Winfrey, eBay Inc (EBAY.O) founder Margaret Whitman and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, according to the report.
In a sign that China’s economic growth is largely driven by construction and manufacturing, rather than by science and technology, seven of China’s 10 richest people are mainly or partly in the real estate business.
