Evergrande chief tops China rich list in 2017

Xu Jiayin, 59, chairman of property company Guangzhou Evergrande Group, has become China’s richest person for the first time with 290 billion yuan ($44 billion) in wealth after a six-month gain of $30 billion, according to a post on the Hurun Research Institute website.

Pony Ma Huateng of Tencent overtakes Jack Ma Yun of Alibaba to claim second place. Meanwhile, 43 individuals from Alibaba and Ant Financial made the list.

In association with China-based training platform 36G, the Hurun Research Institute released the Hurun Rich List 2017 on Thursday.

There are some unfamiliar names in the Top 10: real estate developer Yang Huiyan, 36, vice-chairwoman of Country Garden, reclaimed the title of richest woman in China for the first time in 11 years. Also on the list are “Delivery King” Wang Wei of SF Express and Li Shufu of Geely.

There are 2 percent more female names than last year, among whom 70 percent are self-made.

Among entrepreneurs, those from South China’s Guangdong Province outnumber those from East China’s Zhejiang Province for the first time, up 52 to 284.

“Foreign exchange restrictions put in place recently have made it harder for rich-listers to move money overseas,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report.

It is the 19th edition of the list, which began in 1999. Wealth calculations are a snapshot as of August 15 each year, according to Hurun Report.

With a wealth cut-off of 2 billion yuan ($303 million), the average wealth of the listed billionaires rose 12.5 percent to $1.2 billion, with the Top 100 shooting up 60 percent year-on-year.