Chinese billionaires ranks growing

The super-rich grow more numerous in China. The country now has 358 billionaires, according to the just-released Hurun Global Rich List.

That puts China second only to the United States in numbers of billionaires.

Of that total 87 have senior political links, being members of powerful bodies that take major political and economical decisions.

Fifty-six are members of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and 31 are members of the National People’s Congress (NPC).

Real estate riches

Property remains the most lucrative road to riches in China, despite Beijing’s repeated efforts to cool red-hot real estate prices.

Six of the world’s 10 top property tycoons are now from China and Hong Kong, led by Li Kai-shing, who is worth 200 billion yuan (23.7 billion euros). His fortune rose three percent last year.

Li topped the list of billionaires in the Greater China area, followed by Wang Jianlin, chairman of China’s largest commercial property developer, Dalian Wanda Group, and Lui Che-Woo, founder of casino operator, Galaxy Entertainment Group.

They are each have personal wealth of 150 billion yuan (17.8 billion euros).

Wang’s fortune doubled last year, while Lui’s wealth jumped 108 percent, Hurun Report said.

Wang bought UK luxury yacht maker Sunseeker for $1.6 billion (1.16 billion euros) and is planning billion-dollar luxury hotel developments in London and New York.

Fifty-seven Chinese billionaires come from Beijing, while 24 are from Shanghai and 27 from Shenzhen, the report said. Sixty-five billionaires are from Hong Kong.