Nearly half of the 100 richest people on China's mainland earned a
significant portion of their wealth from real estate or related
businesses, according to this year's list of China's top tycoons
published by
Forbes Global Magazine.
This year's list, which hits newsstands today, marks the fourth
consecutive year the magazine has attempted to rank the mainland's
wealthiest individuals, a task British chartered accountant Rupert
Hoogewerf and his team of assistants spent six months on.
Rong Zhijian tops the roster of tycoons with personal wealth
estimated at US$850 million. The 60-year-old owns 18.83 percent of
Hong Kong-based Citic Pacific Group, which deals in infrastructure
projects, including tunnels and bridges in Shanghai and Hong
Kong.
Rong spent 14 years with the Ministry of Electric Power before
moving to Hong Kong in 1978 to start his own business. Nine years
later, he joined Citic Pacific. Rong was ranked fourth on last
year's list, which was topped by the Liu brothers -- Liu Yongxing
and Liu Yonghao with a combined wealth of US$1 billion. Liu Yonghao
and Liu Yongxing are ranked in sixth and eighth place this year
after they split their assets, causing the magazine to calculate
their wealth separately instead of combined as it did last
year.
The threshold for the list this year rose to US$85 million from
US$60 million last year.
Fourteen members of the list have connections with Shanghai as they
were either born here or set up companies in the city.
Sixth-ranked Ye Lipei, 58, is the richest person in the city with
assets valued at US$540 million. In a bold move in 1989, Ye
invested heavily into Shenzhen's property market, when land prices
were cheap.
To
compile the list, Hoogewerf and his team researched nearly 1,000
companies through public materials.
Several high-profile business people, including auto magnate Yang
Rong and orchid tycoon Yang Bin, who ranked second and third
respectively on last year's list, have recently found themselves
under investigation for economic crimes.
But Hoogewerf said these troubles didn't make his work any more
difficult.
"Issues like tax evasion makes no trouble for us. Most people told
us that it's okay to put their name on the list," he said.
When asked why Yan Rong and Yang Bin were not listed this year,
Hoogewerf said it was nearly impossible for him to figure out the
actual value of the two men's assets in the wake of their legal
problems.
(eastday.com October 25,
2002)