Millionaires in China! One of the main issues of the 21st century. After all, what does China mean for all of us but… CHINESE MONEY! Every day millions of people are trying to make their way among millions of willows, seeking source of their own prosperity. While an increasing number can achieve his dream thanks to economic reforms, how many people have time to think about something else?
There are so many rich Chinese that it’s almost not even strange that you do not know them. Below we share with you a review of the millionaires in china
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.
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.
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.
ZHANG YIMING
NET WORTH: $16.2 BILLION
RESIDENCE: BEIJING
SOURCE OF WEALTH: SOFTWARE
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.
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.
Zhong Shanshan
NET WORTH: $68.9 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: BEVERAGES
RESIDENCE: HANGZHOU
The September 2020 IPO of his bottled-water firm, Nongfu Spring, drove up his fortune by 3,345%, making him the year’s biggest percentage gainer and China’s new richest person. Zhong also chairs Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy, which went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in April 2020.
Ma Huateng
NET WORTH: $65.8 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: INTERNET MEDIA
RESIDENCE: SHENZHEN
His web-media giant, Tencent, which owns stakes in Tesla, Snap and Spotify, notched another win with the February public offering of video-sharing app Kuaishou. Tencent, which is best known for its messaging and social media app WeChat, owns 18% of the Hong Kong listed firm.
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.
Colin Zheng Huang
NET WORTH: $55.3 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: E-COMMERCE
RESIDENCE: SHANGHAI
The founder of online discounter Pinduoduo stepped down as its chairman in March to pursue research in food and life sciences; he gave up his CEO role last July. In 2020, Pinduoduo surpassed Alibaba as China’s most popular e-commerce company with 788.4 million users, just five years after Huang launched the firm. The latter’s annual revenue ($72 billion) still dwarfs Pinduoduo’s ($9.1 billion).
Jack Ma
NET WORTH: $48.4 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: E-COMMERCE
RESIDENCE: HANGZHOU
The Alibaba cofounder has been lying low since the dual listing of his fintech giant, Ant Group, was halted by Chinese regulators in November. His e-commerce empire is also under pressure; Chinese regulators launched an anti-monopoly investigation into the company in December.
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.
Wang Wei
NET WORTH: $39 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: PACKAGE DELIVERY
RESIDENCE: SHENZHEN
Revenue of his S.F. Express—the “FedEx of China”—rose 37% in 2020 as e-commerce boomed during China’s Covid-19 lockdowns. Wang founded the company in 1993 and took it public on the Shenzhen Stock exchange 24 years later through a reverse merger; he still owns nearly 60% of the stock.
He Xiangjian
NET WORTH: $37.7 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: HOME APPLIANCES
RESIDENCE: FOSHAN
The cofounder of electric-appliance maker Midea Group reportedly escaped a kidnapping attempt last June, when several men tried to break into his home using explosives. His son allegedly got out of the house and swam across a river to alert the authorities. He, who stepped down as Midea’s chairman in 2012, still owns a controlling stake with his family.
Zhang Yiming
NET WORTH: $35.6 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: TIKTOK
RESIDENCE: BEIJING
Zhang founded ByteDance, creator of popular short-video app TikTok, in a four-bedroom apartment in 2012. The company first hit it big with news aggregator app Toutiao in China, before taking the world by storm with TikTok. A December funding round valued the unicorn at $180 billion.
Qin Yinglin & family
NET WORTH: $33.5 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: PIG BREEDINGC
RESIDENCE: NANYANG
Qin founded China’s top hog producer, Muyuan Foodstuff Co., in 1992 with wife Qian Ying and just 22 pigs. The group now has 140,000 employees and produced over 18 million pigs in 2020. Qin is chairman, while Qian, who is also a billionaire, sits on the board.
William Lei Ding
NET WORTH: $33 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: ONLINE GAMES
RESIDENCE: HANGZHOU
Revenue at his Nasdaq-listed NetEase rose 24% in 2020 as pandemic lockdowns drove demand for its online-gaming and remote-learning products. The company’s pipeline of games include “Harry Potter: Magic Awakened,” “The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War” and “Pokémon Quest.”
Yang Huiyan & family
NET WORTH: $29.6 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: REAL ESTATE
RESIDENCE: FOSHAN
The heiress is the largest shareholder of real estate developer Country Garden Holdings. Her stake was transferred to her from her father Yeung Kwok Keung, who founded the company and still serves as the chairman. The younger Yang chairs U.S.-listed education firm Bright Scholar Education Holdings.
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.
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.
Conclusion
There is no denying that China has now become the second biggest economy in the world. Not only that, China also boasts of having more than one million dollar millionaires. According to the latest report by Hurun Research Institute, that number doubles compared to all other regions combined.