Despite the coronavirus pandemic, China boasts a record number of billionaires, including a familiar face who retakes the country’s number one spot.....
Even as markets roiled around the world, China’s wealthiest experienced a bounceback year. A record 389 Chinese citizens made the Forbes World’s Billionaires List, up from 324 in 2019 and besting the previous record of 372 in 2018. Though the Middle Kingdom is still recovering from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, its billionaires boast a collective net worth of $1.2 trillion — up from $982 billion a year ago — and have an average fortune of $3.1 billion, also up from $3.0 billion in 2019. These numbers do not include billionaires from Hong Kong and Macao, which Forbes lists separately.
Alibaba cofounder Jack Ma retakes the mantle as China’s richest from Tencent’s Ma Huateng, with a $38.8 billion net worth. The former English teacher stepped down as chairman of the e-commerce giant in September 2019 to focus more on philanthropy. In March, the Jack Ma Foundation announced it would donate one million masks and 500,000 coronavirus test kits to the U.S.; the foundation has also donated medical supplies to Europe and Africa.
Overall, China’s wealthiest 10 people, a cohort that also includes TikTok creator Zhang Yiming and real estate tycoon Hui Ka Yan, have a combined fortune of $224 billion, down from $234.8 billion a year ago. The biggest loser (in dollar terms) is the country’s one-time richest person, Wang Jianlin, who has shed $8.6 billion in the past year as his real estate empire declined and his movie theater chains experienced a sharp downturn in the face of coronavirus. Wang, who once had the ambition of besting Disney’s theme parks in China, is now out of the top 10, with a $14 billion net worth.
China’s richest pig breeder, Qing Yinglin, is both the country’s and the list’s biggest (dollar) gainer. His fortune skyrocketed $14.2 billion in the past year, as shares of his Shenzhen-listed Muyuan Foodstuff nearly tripled, fueled by higher pork prices driven by the African swine fever, which reduced China’s pig population. Qing’s wife, Qian Ying, who sits on the board of Muyuan, is a newcomer to the list, with a $1.4 billion fortune.
Other notable newcomers include Larry Xiangdong Chen, who joined the three-comma club after his Beijing based GSX Techedu, which provides online after-school tutoring for K-12 students, went public on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2019. Its stock has almost quadrupled since the IPO, thanks to China’s rising middle class and increased demand for virtual education during the coronavirus crisis. In total, 80 Chinese tycoons — 77 of whom are self-made — debuted on Forbes World’s Billionaires list in 2020, while another 28 who had been on the list prior to 2019 are back on the list this year.
Here are the top 10 richest people in China; net worths are as of March 18, 2020.
1-JACK MA
NET WORTH: $38.8 BILLION
RESIDENCE: HANGZHOU
SOURCE OF WEALTH: E-COMMERCE
Ma cofounded e-commerce giant Alibaba in his Hangzhou apartment in 1999; 15 years later, the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in a record setting IPO, raising $25 billion. Ma’s fortune also includes stakes in fintech firm Ant Financial and entertainment companies Huayi Brothers and Beijing Enlight Media.
2-MA HUATENG
NET WORTH: $38.1 BILLION
RESIDENCE: SHENZHEN
SOURCE OF WEALTH: INTERNET MEDIA
Also known as Pony Ma, the tech wizard cofounded Tencent in 1998; its portfolio includes messenger app WeChat, League of Legends game developer Riot Games, and minority stakes in Spotify and Snap Inc. In February, the Hong Kong listed company announced a $210 million fund to help support coronavirus efforts in China; it promised another $100 million, to help the international fight against the virus, in March.
3-HUI KA YAN
NET WORTH: $21.8 BILLION
RESIDENCE: SHENZHEN
SOURCE OF WEALTH: REAL ESTATE
A former steel factory technician, Hui chairs Hong Kong listed Evergrande Group, one of China’s largest real estate developers. Outside of real estate, Hui announced a three-year, $6.4 billion investment into electric vehicles in November 2019.
4-HE XIANGJIAN
NET WORTH: $21.6 BILLION
RESIDENCE: FOSHAN
SOURCE OF WEALTH: HOME APPLIANCES
In 1968, He Xiangjian led a group of 23 workers from Guangdong Province to form a lid production workshop; the company eventually became Midea Group, now one of the world’s largest appliance manufacturers. In January, the firm donated products like air conditioners, water heaters and washers and dryers to Wuhan hospitals battling coronavirus.
5-YANG HUIYAN
NET WORTH: $20.3 BILLION
RESIDENCE: FOSHAN
SOURCE OF WEALTH: REAL ESTATE
Yang owns 57% and co-chairs the board of Hong Kong-listed real estate developer Country Garden, which her father founded and chairs. In February, Country Garden set up automated food-service stations in Wuhan — stand-alone buffets where machines put food on plates with no human contact — to serve coronavirus front-line medical workers.
6-QIN YINGLIN
NET WORTH: $18.5 BILLION
RESIDENCE: NANYANG
SOURCE OF WEALTH: PIG BREEDING
Qin, who has a degree in animal husbandry from Henan Agricultural University, started his pig breeding business with wife Qian Ying with 22 pigs in 1992. His Muyuan Foodstuff Company is now a leading player in the world’s biggest pork market, producing over 10 million pigs in 2019.
7-WILLIAM LEI DING
NET WORTH: $17 BILLION
RESIDENCE: HANGZHOU
SOURCE OF WEALTH: ONLINE GAMES
China’s first Internet and gaming billionaire, Ding founded gaming firm Netease in 1997. The company has produced some of China’s longest running PC games, and has partnered with Blizzard Entertainment to operate games like World of Warcraft and Diablo in China.
8-COLIN ZHENG HUANG
NET WORTH: $16.5 BILLION
RESIDENCE: SHANGHAI
SOURCE OF WEALTH: E-COMMERCE
The University of Wisconsin alum started his career at Google before returning to China and founding online discount retailer Pinduoduo in 2015. In February, the popular e-commerce platform launched a program to allow urban consumers to buy produce from rural farmers online during coronavirus-induced lockdowns. The company also leveraged its network to source and donate over a million masks and 30 tons of disinfectants to cities in the Hubei province, whose capital Wuhan was at the center of the pandemic.
9-ZHANG YIMING
NET WORTH: $16.2 BILLION
RESIDENCE: BEIJING
SOURCE OF WEALTH: SOFTWARE
Bytedance Ltd. Founder And CEO Zhang Yiming
Zhang chairs one of the world’s most valuable unicorns, ByteDance, which first made its name with news aggregator platform Toutiao. It took the world by storm with the creation of mobile video app TikTok, popular with U.S. teenagers; the parent company is now valued at $75 billion.
10-WANG WEI
NET WORTH: $15.2 BILLION
RESIDENCE: SHENZHEN
SOURCE OF WEALTH: PACKAGE DELIVERY
Wang chairs Shenzhen-listed S.F. holding, known as the Fedex FDX 0.0% of China. In February, the package delivery firm started using drones to send medical supplies to Wuhan hospitals; the drones have a range of 11 miles and can carry up to 22 pounds of goods.
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