China now has more billionaires than the US

The latest Hurun wealth rankings now has Wanda chair Wang Jianlin listed as China’s richest man. Wang, who founded conglomerate Wanda, saw his fortune jump more than 50 percent to US$34.4 billion (HK$268.3 billion). Elsewhere in the IT sector, Lei Jun, founder of China’s biggest smart phone company Xiaomi, doubled his wealth to US$14.4 billion from a year ago and moved up to fifth rank.

According to the Hurun Global Rich List, China is now home to 596 billionaires in dollar terms, compared to 537 in the U.S – an increase of 242 in China on 2014.

The same analysis by Hurun also suggests China now has more billionaires than the United States for the first time.

China’s leaders are attempting to transform the world’s second largest economy in the communist nation to become more self-sustainable, pushing domestic consumption and service business over traditional reliance on trade, investment and heavy industry.

He burst into the spotlight in 2012 by buying U.S. cinema chain AMC Entertainment for $2.6 billion.

Hurun’s chairman and chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said the list, which is in its 17th year, was a snap shot of the country’s wealthy on August 14. No. 2 was Jack Massachusetts, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, at $22.7 billion.

According to Hurun, 16 of the 1,877 people on its rich list are in different degrees of trouble with the Chinese authorities, including seven under investigation, four awaiting sentencing and three who have disappeared altogether.

The rise in manufacturing billionaires is in line with the country’s “Made in China 2025” strategy.

Fortune reports that the list reflects the growing power shift in China’s economy, with IT-related billionaires growing by 43% in the previous year.

Beverage tycoon Zong Qinghou of Wahaha remained in third place with just over USD21 billion while Pony Massachusetts, founder of Internet giant Tencent which operates popular messaging app WeChat, took fourth place with a little under USD19 billion. “Going forward, the gap between Chinese and United States entrepreneurs will increasingly widen”.