Property moguls top `Forbes' list of China's richest

A 26-year-old female property developer topped this year's Forbes list of the richest people in China, grabbing the No. 1 spot with a net worth of US$16 billion, the US magazine said yesterday.

That also makes Yang Huiyan (楊惠妍) the richest woman in Asia, Forbes said in a statement.

All 40 people on Forbes Asia's 2007 China Rich List are billionaires, compared with only 15 last year, it said, attributing the rise to a boom in the nation's stock and property markets.

Their combined net worth is US$120 billion, up more than three times from last year's US$38 billion, it said.

The list was published as China prepares for the opening next week of the 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress, where the growing gap between rich and poor is likely to be on the agenda.

Beijing's rulers are concerned that the widening difference between the haves and have-nots could endanger social cohesion.

Yang, a graduate of Ohio State University, is the daughter of Yeung Kwok Keung (楊國強), the co-founder of Country Garden Holdings (碧桂園控股), a property development firm.

Yeung transferred his shareholdings to his daughter in 2005, and she now sits on the company's board as an executive director, Forbes said.

Yang is one of more than a dozen property developers to make this year's Rich List, reflecting roaring demand for homes and real estate investments, the magazine said.

"Household incomes are rising rapidly, and a growing number of people are moving into cities from rural areas," list compiler Russell Flannery said.

"Those trends are creating great business opportunity for property developers in the country," he said.

The Forbes list had 20 newcomers including solar energy entrepreneur Peng Xiaofeng (彭曉峰).

Last year's No. 1, Wong Kwong Yu (黃光裕), fell to No. 10 even though his fortune increased by 56 percent to US$3.6 billion, the statement said.

The list underlined that south China remained the center of gravity for the country's economic might. Guangdong Province produced 13 billionaires, more than any other region, Forbes said.

"Guangdong has been overshadowed of late because the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai's growing international role have attracted a lot of attention," Flannery said in the statement.

"This list illustrates that southern China still has plenty of money and plenty of entrepreneurial zest," he said.

The number of billionaires in China and India nearly doubled last year, pushing Japan from Asia's top spot for the first time in 20 years, Forbes said earlier this year.