Mainland China, whose economic resurgence has been one of the world’s most remarkable economic stories of the past three decades, today ranks No. 2 on the year’s Forbes Billionaires List with 122 citizens on the list, second only to the United States with 442 members. China’s total rises to 161 if Hong Kong is included. Which entrepreneurs lead the pack in wealth in this nation that is still on the move? Here’s a short introduction to this year’s top 10:
*Zong Qinghou, No. 86, $11.6 billion
Zong chairs Wahaha, the country’s top homegrown beverage company that produces a mix of bottled water, teas and other ready-to-drink concoctions. Mainland China’s richest man on the 2012 Forbes China Rich List published last October, Zong keep his top spot among his countrymen on our new 2013 Forbes Billionaires List, buoyed by a rise in Wahaha’s profits last year. (Click here for details and here for a related story.)
*Wang Jianlin, No. 128, $8.6 billion
Wang Jianlin chairs Dalian Wanda Group, one of China’s largest commercial real estate developers. His projected wealth has increased to $8.6 billion on our new billionaires list compared with $8 billion on the Forbes China Rich List published last October. The company made waves in the U.S. last May by announcing it would purchase AMC Entertainment Holdings for $2.6 billion. The transaction was completed in September, turning Dalian Wanda into the world’s largest operator of movie theaters. (Click here for details and here for a related story)
*Liang Wengen, No. 158, $7.3 billion
Liang Wengen owns 58% of Sany Group, one of China’s largest non-government-controlled makers of construction equipment and a rival of U.S.-based Caterpillar. Liang topped the 2011 Forbes China Rich List with wealth of $9.3 billion, but his fortune has slipped since on rough competition and eased demand for its products. On the 2012 Forbes Billionaires List, Liang was worth $8.1 billion. (Click here for details)
*Li Robin, No. 172, $6.9 billion
Robin Li has produced stellar growth at Chinese search engine Baidu in the past year. Yet his wealth has dropped from $10.2 billion on our 2012 Forbes Billionaires List a year ago to $6.9 billion on the new list. Behind the fall: Baidu shares have dropped on worries that company is up against growing competitoin. A 10% one-day fall in January alone wiped $785 million from his fortune. (Click here for details and here for a related story)
* Ma Huateng, No. 173, $6.8 billion
Ma Huateng, also known as Pony Ma, is the chairman and CEO of Tencent, one of China’s “big three” Internet companies, along with Baidu and Alibaba. The company’s growing “WeChat” mobile community reached 200 million as of September. Those gains and success with online games such as Legend of Yulong and Legend of Xuanyuan helped to boost revenue by more than half in the first nine months of last year. (Click here for details)
*Liu Yongxing, No. 198, $6 billion
Liu Yongxing is the chairman of the East Hope Group. Liu made money early in his career by working with his three brothers to sell quail and feed in rural Sichuan Province. Liu’s Shanghai-headquartered East Hope Group is today one of China’s largest privately held industrial materials manufacturers. (Click here for details)
*Hui Ka Yan, No. 209, $5.9 billion
Hui Ka Yan is the chairman of Hong Kong-listed Evergrande Real Estate Group of Guangzhou, one of China’s largest real estate developers. He successfully rode out a stretch of government-imposed tight controls on real estate lending in China with a double-digit increase in its Hong Kong shares in the past year. That has helped to lift his wealth from $4.9 billion on the 2012 Forbes China Rich List published in October. (Click here for details)
*Yang Huiyan, No. 211, $5.7 billion
Yang Huiyan is the daughter of Yeung Kwok Keung, the chairman of Chinese real estate developer Country Garden Holdings. Yang’s wealth has increased from $4.7 billion a year ago on hopes for profit gains from bevy of projects – some 110 as of mid-2012. Sales in the first six months of 2012 increased by 7% to $2.7 billion. (Click here for details)
*Wei Jianjun, No. 229, $5.3 billion
Wei Jianjun chairs Great Wall Motor, one of China’s largest non-government owned automakers. His wealth has increased this year after Great Wall Motor’s shares more than doubled amid buoyant profit and sales growth. (Click here for more details and here for a list of China’s richest auto industry entrepreneurs)
