The richest on the Chinese mainland are getting richer there are 10 billionaires this year in Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the nation's wealthiest people compared with three last year.

Rong Zhijian, 63, chairman of Hong Kong-listed CITIC Pacific Group, maintained his perch atop the magazine's list of the country's richest.

The 2005 list, released yesterday, shows Rong and his family with assets of US$1.64 billion, US$150 million more than last year.

In second place is real estate tycoon Zhu Mengyi, whose net worth is reckoned at US$1.4 billion. Zhu, 46, who ranked 10th last year, saw his fortune triple over the past year, according to the list. He is among the seven newcomers to the billionaire club this year.

Third on the list is 34-year-old Ding Lei, founder of Internet portal NetEase. The NASDAQ-listed company's boss has an estimated fortune of nearly US$1.3 billion, up from US$668 million last year. Ding led the 2003 list but dropped to sixth last year following a downturn in the dotcom industry.

Huang Guangyu, founder of Gome the mainland's largest home-appliance retail chain dropped from last year's second position to fourth.

But Huang, 36, was crowned the mainland's richest entrepreneur on a competing list published last month by Euromoney China. Compared with the US$1.25 billion Forbes estimates Huang is worth, London-based Euromoney put his fortune at US$1.7 billion.

Another striking difference between the two lists is that the No 2 on Euromoney's list, Yan Jiehe, did not appear on the Forbes 400 at all. Euromoney estimates that Yan, chairman of Pacific Construction Group, is worth US$1.5 billion.

Russell Flannery, chief of Forbes' Shanghai Bureau, explained yesterday that due to the complicated financial structure of Yan's company, Forbes could not get a clear picture of Yan's fortune. The magazine took a cautious attitude while compiling the list, he said.

Rebutting reports that Yan had reached a private agreement with Forbes not to put him on the list, Flannery said Forbes is closely watching Yan's company and would name him on a list in the future.

Real estate proved to be the biggest generator of wealth, as more than half of the 100 richest have a stake in the booming property market.

The average fortune of the top 100 wealthiest is US$400 million, soaring 38 percent over last year.

Wealth is, indeed, expanding rapidly among the richest. The No 200 in last year's list had a fortune of US$80 million, while the figure is US$123 million for the same position this year.

Money is also concentrated in a few places. More than half the entrepreneurs on the Forbes 400 list have their businesses in only four areas around China East China's Zhejiang Province, South China's Guangdong Province, Shanghai and Beijing.

The youngest on the list is 24-year-old Li Zhaohui, at 26th, with an estimated wealth of US$400 million. Li inherited his father's business Shanxi-based Haixin Iron & Steel last year.

The oldest is Lu Guoji, 82, president of Chongqing-based Minsheng Corporation. With an estimated fortune of US$173 million, Lu is 119th on the list.

The number of billionaires in the world in 2005 is 691, according to Forbes.

(China Daily November 4, 2005)