China's Richest

China's wealthiest got much richer in the past year, thanks to the nation's booming economy. The 40 richest businesspeople are now worth a collective $26 billion, up from $18 billion a year ago. China is now home to ten billionaires and their families, up from three last year. A net worth of $321 million was required to make the top 40, up from $231 million last year. The nation's richest man is once again Larry Rong Zhijian, who runs one of China's most successful conglomerates, Citic Pacific. Those who make their money in real estate did particularly well. Moving up eight slots to number 2 is property baron Zhu Mengyi and family, whose holdings are in Guangdong Province and whose Hong Kong-listed Hopson Development recently attracted international investors such as the U.S.' Tiger Fund. FORBES ASIA estimates his family's fortune at $1.43 billion, up $1 billion from last year. Another big gainer was number 11, Zhang Li, who was ranked 92 in FORBES ASIA's survey last year. His R&F Properties, which builds everything from five-star hotels in Guangzhou and middle-class apartments in Beijing, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July. One low-profile member of our list is number 13, Wu Guodi, the head of Alison Group, which makes industrial products like steel pipes and also trades oil. Chen Lihua, the richest woman among the top 40, owns buildings in some of Beijing's priciest locations. Among this year's most notable Internet entrepreneurs are Robin Li, cofounder of newly public Chinese search engine Baidu, and Jack Ma, whose Web site, Alibaba.com, attracted a $1 billion investment from Yahoo earlier this year. The youngest on our list is Li Zhaohui, 24, who became the leader of one of China's largest private steelmakers, Shanxi Haixin Group, after his father was murdered. China's top 40 saw much turnover: 17 of this grouping from last year didn't make the top tier this year. Unlike FORBES' billionaires list, our ranking has been broadened to include family fortunes, like that of Chen Tianqiao.
The Money Trail

Here are ten public companies that count China's richest as their investors.
COMPANY NAME Market Cap $MIL % STAKE

PING AN INSURANCE Liu Fang $10,200 5%
CITIC PACIFIC Larry Rong Zhijian 5,822 18
BAIDU Robin Li 2,620 22
NETEASE.COM William Ding Lei 2,600 51
R&F PROPERTIES Zhang Li 2,200 34
SHANDA INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT Chen Tianqiao 1,780 57
HOPSON DEVELOPMENT Zhu Mengyi 1,450 53
GOME APPLIANCES Wong Kwong Yu 968 66
FORTE Guo Guangchang 271 36
SHIMAO INTERNATIONAL Xu Rongmao 70 75

Methodology: For people with publicly traded fortunes, net worths were calculated mostly using recent market prices or, for China a-shares, book value. Privately held companies were valued at book value or by coupling estimates of revenues, profits or book value to prevaling ratios for similar publicly traded companies.

COMPILED BY
Russell Flannery