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64 Mainlanders Make Forbes' Rich List

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A total of 64 people from the Chinese mainland made the Forbes magazine list of the world's richest billionaires, moving up to take second place for the first time.

The US led the list, released Wednesday, with 403 billionaires. China was followed by Russia with 62 billionaires. Of the world's 97 new billionaires, 62 were from Asia.

Big billionaires are on a roll in China, says Forbes

Among the super-rich from the Chinese mainland, 27 made the list for the first time.

In addition, 25 people from Hong Kong made it into the billionaires club, while 18 Taiwan people entered the list. More than 10 percent of billionaires on the list came from the Greater China Area, namely the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

The total number of billionaires stood at 1,011. That's much higher than the 793 super-rich who made in onto the list last year, but lower than the record number of 1,125 in 2008.

Mainland's Top 10 Billionaires

Rank

Name

Age

Net Worth ($bil)

103

Zong Qinghou

64

7

154

Liu Yongxing

62

5

176

Zhang Jindong

47

4.5

189

Wang Chuanfu

44

4.4

212

Hui Ka Yan

51

4

232

Wu Yajun & family

46

3.9

249

Liang Wengen

53

3.6

249

Ma Huateng

38

3.6

258

Robin Li

41

3.5

277

Chen Fashu

49

3.4

277

Yang Huiyan

28

3.4

 

Chinese entrepreneur Zong Qinghou, CEO of eastern Hangzhou's Wahaha Group, is the wealthiest person in the Chinese mainland, according to the list.

The tycoon, with his US$7 billion beverage empire, ranks 103rd in the 2010 world's richest list, while Mexico's Carlos Slim, the son of an immigrant shopkeeper and major stakeholder of the New York Times, claims the top throne with his US$53.5 billion fortune.

Slim was US$500 million ahead of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Legendary investor Warren Buffet was third with US$47 billion.

According to Forbes' counting, the richest person in Hong Kong is Li Ka-sing with a fortune of US$21 billion. The richest person in Taiwan is Terry Tai-Ming Gou, founder of one of the world's largest electronics manufacturing service company Hon Hai, with a fortune of US$5.5 billion.

The world's richest woman, according to Forbes, was Wal-Mart heiress Christy Walton, whose US$22.5-billion fortune put her in twelfth place. Only 89 women made it in to the billionaires club, and most inherited their wealth. Of the 14 self-made female billionaires, seven came from the mainland.

The 24th Forbes list included people from 55 countries and regions, with first entries from Finland and Pakistan.

(chinadaily.com.cn March 12, 2010)