The Hurun Research Institute released the 2018 LEXUS·Hurun China Rich List: This is the 20th annual ranking of the richest individuals in China, with a wealth cut-off of CNY 2 billion (equivalent this year to US$290 million), wealth calculations are a snapshot of 15 August, the same date as previous years.

1893 individuals made the list this year, down 11% or 237 people, with a wealth cut-off of CNY 2bn. 1012 saw their wealth shrink or stay the same, whilst 881 saw their wealth grow, of which 219 were new faces. 456 dropped out from last year’s list, hitting a twenty-year high.

Rupert Hoogewerf said: “Wealth in China is becoming more concentrated. The wealth of the Hurun Top 10, for example, accounted for 10% of the total wealth on the list, and that of the Top 200 accounted for half of the total wealth on the list.”

The Shanghai Composite Index was down 16% to 2,700 points in the year ending 15 August 2018 year, after rising 4% last year. The Shenzhen Stock Index was down 19% to 8,600 points after declining 2.4% last year. The Growth Enterprise Index was down 18% for the second year, to 1,500 points. The HK Heng Seng Index edged up 1% to 27,300 points, after soaring 19% last year. Rupert Hoogewerf said: This year, entrepreneurs from 34 listed companies had their shares frozen.”

Only 1,893 individuals made the cut this year, down 11% from 2130 individuals last year, the first drop in the size of the list since 2012.

Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said: “A 20% drop in the stock exchange, on the back of a slowing economy and the US-China trade war, resulted in 456 drop-offs this year, the highest since records began twenty years ago.”

Despite the drop, the number of individuals making the cut of CNY 2 billion is up 89% compared with five years ago, and four-fold that of 10 years ago at the time of the financial crisis. 20 years ago, only eight individuals had CNY 2 billion.

Jack Ma Yun, 54, & family shot back to Number One in China for the second time in four years. Ma’s wealth increased by US$10bn to US$39bn, on the back of a hike in the valuation of Alipay mothership Ant Financial. ‘Real Estate Tycoon’ Xu Jiayin, 60, of Evergrande and last year’s richest person, claimed second place, followed by Pony Ma Huateng of Tencent. Rupert Hoogewerf said: “The Big Three are pulling away from the rest.”

New faces. There were 219 new faces, led by 38-year old Colin Huang Zheng of e-commerce giant Pinduoduo. Huang started Pinduoduo only 3 years ago and is today worth US$14bn. 5 new faces shot straight into the Top 100 of the Hurun Rich List. Others include ‘Battery King’ Zeng Yuqun of CATL, a battery maker for the e-car industry, and ‘Blockchain King’ Zhan Ketuan of Bitmain. Rupert Hoogewerf said, “The scalability of the market coupled with a strong investor ecosystem is creating big new businesses fast.”

Others that grew fast included ‘Hot Pot Power Couple’ Zhang Yong and wife Shu Ping, whose wealth shot up ten-fold on the back of an IPO last month. Zhang Yiming, 35, of news aggregator ByteDance, is reportedly in discussion to raise money on a valuation of a staggering US$75bn. Lei Jun of smartphone maker Xiaomi grew 62% to US$16bn to break into the Top 10. Wang Xing of Meituan-Dianping shot up 39 places to 58th.

Down. Wu Gang, 41, and Huang Xiaojie, both of JD Capital saw their wealth drop 85%, Meitu’s Wu Xinhong and Cai Wensheng saw their wealth drop over 50%, Jiang Bin and wife Hu Shuangmei of acoustic component maker GoerTek saw their wealth drop by over 50%, last year’s richest self-made women ‘Touchscreen Queen’ Zhou Qunfei and husband Zheng Junlong saw their wealth drop 45%.

Fortune Global 500. The Top 10 created seven Fortune Global 500, including Alibaba, Evergrande, Tencent, Country Garden, Midea, China Pacific Construction and Amer.

By industry: Sixty percent of the list made their wealth from the ‘Big Four’ industries of manufacturing, real estate, investments and IT. Manufacturing has been the main source of wealth for the past five years, although the number of individuals from this sector dropped slightly to 26.1% from last year’s 27.9%, on the back of the US-China trade war. Real estate, which used to be the top wealth creator for the first 15 years of the list, came in second, edging up from 14.6% to 14.9%. Finance and investments overtook IT, with investments up from 10.9% to 11.6% and IT down from 11.8% to 10.3%. New energy, food, clothing and apparel, as well as retail all edged up, whilst natural resources, culture and entertainment as well as agriculture edged down.

Born after 1980. 132 made the list, up 32 compared with last year. 50 were self-made, 11 more than last year. Colin Huang Zheng of Pinduoduo took over from ‘Education King’ Zhang Bangxin of TAL Education as the richest self-made person born after 1980.

Born after 1985. 56 individuals made the list, up 20 compared with last year. 11 were self-made, five more compared to last year. Wu Jihan, 32, of blockchain chip manufacturer Bitmain become the richest self-made person born after 1985.

Born after 1990. 10 made the list, up 4 on last year, of which two were self-made, one more than last year. Ge Yuesheng, 26, of Bitmain, led the way with US$490 million, followed by Dai Wei, 27, of bicycle sharing app Ofo with US$430 million.

Average age is 55 years, one more than last year. Rupert Hoogewerf said: “The Hurun Rich Lister started out on average at the age of 29.”

50% of the list lives in 7 cities, led by Beijing for 293 individuals, down 7 from last year, and Shenzhen with 193, 31 down on last year. Shanghai maintained third place with 160, down 13 on last year. Hangzhou, fourth place, with 120, down 33. Hong Kong added four, moving up one spot to sixth place, with 54.

Birthplace. Zhejiang entrepreneurs overtook Guangdong, returning to top spot.

Born outside China. For the first time, non-mainlanders living in Mainland China were added into the list. 19 non-mainland made the list, led by Ken Chu & family of real estate developer and golf course operator Mission Hills from HK, Kieu Hoang from Vietnam of blood product RAAS from Vietnam and John Oyler from the US of cancer treatment brand BeiGene. Six were from Hong Kong, five from Taiwan, two from Indonesia, and one from each of Vietnam, Bosnia, Denmark, the US, UK and South Africa.

Women made up 28.7%, a record high since the list began 20 years ago. Yang Huiyan of Country Garden continued to be the richest female in China, with US$22bn.

Political appointments down. Only 7.5% or 142 individuals, down from 10% last year and 15.7% five years ago, were delegates to either the NPC or CPPCC. NPC delegates were down 48 to 77, CPPCC down 23 to 65.

Social media impact. The entrepreneurs with the fastest-growing fan bases on Weibo include: Jack Ma, Lei Jun, Jiang Nanchun and Pan Shiyi. ‘Social Media Queen’ actress Zhao Wei leads with 84 million fans, followed by Wang Jianlin’s son Wang Sicong with 27 million fans, and Jack Ma with 24 million fans.

Alumni from Zhejiang University led with 35 alumni on the list, down 2 on last year. Peking University alumni ranked second with 31, followed by Tsinghua alumni with 25. Rupert Hoogewerf said: “The power of entrepreneurship from China’s top universities is super strong, but – interestingly enough – over half the list graduated from the ‘university of life’!”

In trouble with the law. 12 were in trouble with the authorities, with 9 under investigation. Rupert Hoogewerf said: “Over the past 20 years, only 52 of the more than 4000 individuals that have made the Hurun Rich List, have got themselves into trouble with the authorities, ie just over 1%, suggesting that 98.7% are healthy.”

Three died. Wang Jian, 57, of troubled investment conglomerate HNA. Wang announced his wealth will be donated to charity in the event of his death. Wang’s estate is valued at US$2bn; Lin Wenjing of Fujian-based developer RongQiao, 91; and Lu Guanqiu of Wanxiang, 74.

Chinese star signs. Individuals born in the Year of the Rabbit continued to lead the way for the seventh consecutive year, followed by those born in the Year of the Dragon. Rats held up the bottom.

Surnames. The Wang family did best, followed by Li, which overtook Zhang into second place.

Social enterprise. Rupert Hoogewerf said: “Companies created by entrepreneurs from the Hurun List contributed an estimated 6% of China’s total tax revenues and 1.3% of the total workforce.”

The Top 10

Two new faces made the Top 10: Lei Jun of Xiaomi, whose wealth shot up 62%, the fastest in the Top 10; and Wang Wenyin of copper and cabling giant Amer. Of the Top 10, 4 were from the IT sector, same as last year, followed by real estate with three. Five live in Guangdong, three in Beijing, one in Zhejiang, one in Jiangsu and one in HK.

2018 LEXUS·Hurun China Rich List - Top 10

Source: 2018 LEXUS·Hurun China Rich List

↑Rank increase yoy ↓Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy *New to Top 10

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Hurun Report, the world’s largest rich list compiler, released the 20th anniversary of the Hurun Rich List, this year in association with LEXUS.