Chan Laiwa & family (陳麗華家族)

Age: 70

2011 net worth (US$): 2.23 billion

2010 net worth (US$): 1.16 billion

General ranking: 32

Company: Fu Wah International Group

Headquarters: Beijing

Title: President

Main focus: Real estate

Chan Laiwa founded Fu Wah, a multinational corporation focused on property development, tourism, clubhouses and catering. Chan was born in Beijing in 1941 and forced to drop out of high school because her family was too poor to afford tuition. She began to repair furniture for others and, with a knack for business, opened her own furniture factory. In 1981, Chan went to Hong Kong, where she began investing in property, quickly growing her fortune by buying and selling a number of villas. Chan then returned to Beijing and established her fame by developing the Beijing Chang'an Club next to Tiananmen Square in the 1990s.

Chan also established  the first private Chinese museum on red sandalwood art, which houses about 1,000 pieces of Ming and Qing dynasty-style furniture. Chan's company also develops properties on Jinbao Street, a luxury shopping street in Beijing, and invested nearly US$500 million in the renovation of the street in 2000. For Chan, integrity and friends are the key to entrepreneurial success.