Li Ka-shing named one of China’s super-rich

Property tycoon Li Ka-shing has been named one of China’s 10 richest people in a list that includes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan for the first time.

According to the Hurun China Rich List 2021 published on Wednesday, Li, 93, and his family ranked eighth with wealth of US$33.4 billion.

The richest person is Nongfu Spring bottled water entrepreneur Zhong Shanshan, 67, who has an estimated personal wealth of US$60.6 billion.

Zhang Yiming, 38, founder of TikTok owner ByteDance, took second place after his wealth tripled last year to US$52.8 billion.

‘Battery King’ Zeng Yuqun, 53, of CATL, tripled his wealth and rose to third spot with US$47.4 billion.

Alibaba’s Jack Ma and his family held the top spot in the previous two years but now trail in fifth place “after Ant’s listing was suspended and Alibaba was fined a record US$2.8 billion for monopolistic practices”, the Hurun list said.

It noted that eight of the 10 fastest risers are in the new energy business, while sports brands and semiconductors both had a good year.

The list estimated that there are 2,918 individuals in China with wealth of 2 billion yuan or more, that’s 22 percent or 520 individuals more than last year.

With Hurun including the two SARs and Taiwan, 197 people were added to the list for the first time.

Shanghai was found to be the fastest-growing city in terms of the number of rich people, but Beijing still topped the list with 341 multi-billionaires. Hong Kong came in 5th with 151.