The richest person in China is a 26 year old woman:
Source:
http://www.forbes.com/home/entrepreneurs/2007/10/08/china-40-richest-ent-cx_rf_1008chinasrich.html
Special ReportChina's 40 Richest
So much for government meddling. China's efforts to put the brakes
on the country's booming property market this year didn't stop the
26-year-old daughter of one of China's largest property developers from
coming in on top in our annual survey of China's richest.
Yang
Huiyan tops this year's list with a net worth of $16.2 billion, nearly
seven times the $2.3 billion that retailer Wong Kwong Yu needed to rank
No. 1 in 2006. Yang's father, the low-profile chairman of Country
Gardens, turned over his shares to his daughter in 2005, and her wealth
has soared with the company's stock price since the company went public
in Hong Kong in April.
Yang, an alumnus of Ohio State University,
is hardly alone in getting very rich, very quick. All 40 members of the
Forbes Asia list of China's richest this year are billionaires, up from
just 15 last year. The total wealth held by members of the list vaulted
to $120 billion, from $38 billion last year. By comparison, the 40
richest Americans are worth $628 billion. Once poor, China is hardly
hopelessly behind the world's richest country.
Behind the trend: China's double-digit economic growth and the
rising value of its stock market. Fat valuations are attracting low-key
companies like Country Gardens into the public markets in search of
capital and riches. There, investment banks like Morgan Stanley
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hungry for investment banking fees, are finding happy customers even
hungrier to get a piece of booming China into their portfolios.
One
of the biggest beneficiaries of all: property owners. China's
government has been trying to slow demand with higher taxes, worried
about income distribution and high prices.
Yet the country's
well-off upper class and nascent middle class are both splurging on
better digs during a time of prosperity. Urbanization is also
propelling demand for new apartments, homes, and office and retail
space, as the country's once-overwhelming rural population moves to the
city. Shares in property developers that are listed on international
exchanges are in strong demand because foreigners see property as a
good way to play the slow-motion, one-way direction of China's mighty
renminbi against just about all other currencies.
More than a
dozen developers made the list. Among them were five spawned by Country
Garden's IPO: Yang Erzhu, Su Rubo, Zhang Yaoyuan and Ou Xueming, in
addition to Yang. Just today, Beijing celebrity developer Zhang Xin
cashed in by listing SOHO China in Hong Kong.
The new list showcases a boom across all industries. Nasdaq-listed Baidu.com's
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founder, Robin Li, returned this year. Newcomers, who account for half
of the 40 places, include private entrepreneurs who are gaining ground
in a China energy industry long dominated by the state. Among them,
Xiaofeng Peng of LDK Solar
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) and Liansheng Miao of Yingli Green Energy
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both companies are U.S.-listed solar energy upstarts. Returnees
included Cho Tak Wong (last year listed as Cao Dewang), whose auto
parts maker Fuyao is being courted as an investment target by Goldman Sachs
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Last
year's No. 1, Wong Kwong Yu, fell nine places to No. 10 even though his
wealth increased by 56%, to $3.6 billion. Yan Cheung, the chairman of
Nine Dragons, who was last year's richest woman, also saw her wealth
increase by 126% from $3.4 billion, though her rank slipped to No. 11.
More listed here: http://www.forbes.com/home/entrepreneurs/2007/10/08/china-40-richest-ent-cx_rf_1008chinasrich_2.html
Last edited: 08-Oct-07 03:54 PM
