{"id":6928,"date":"2021-01-22T09:42:16","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T09:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=6928"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:56:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:56:30","slug":"chinas-10-richest-business-leaders-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/chinas-10-richest-business-leaders-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Post Covid-19, these are China’s 10 richest business leaders in 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

FROM JACK MA TO MA HUATENG, WHEN IT COMES TO GROWTH, CHINA\u2019S RICHEST HAVE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD. SINCE 2003, THE COUNTRY HAS GONE FROM HAVING NO US-DOLLAR BILLIONAIRES, TO NEARLY 1,000 TODAY. MANY STARTED WITH NOTHING, BATTLING THEIR WAY TO THE TOP OF THE COUNTRY\u2019S ECONOMIC BOOM. SO WHO ARE THEY? Alex Colville finds out<\/h2>\n

The year 2016 saw a significant milestone: it was when the number of Chinese US-dollar billionaires overtook the number of America billionaires. Since then, the numbers have swelled. According to the Hurun Report\u2019s 2020 China Rich List, there was more wealth created last year than the past three combined. \u2018The world has never seen this much wealth created in just one year,\u2019 says Rupert Hoogewerf<\/a>, Chairman and Chief Researcher of the Hurun Report. Those at the top of the list come from a wide range of industries \u2013 from real estate and fintech to beverages and (perhaps oddly), pork farming.<\/p>\n

Many on the list have risen on a scale unseen anywhere else in the world: Xu Jiayin started by mucking out university latrines and ended as the chairman of a US$500 billion company. Wang Wei began China\u2019s largest delivery service as a smuggler in a mini-van.<\/p>\n

Xu Jiayin started by mucking out university latrines and Wang Wei began as a smuggler in a mini-van.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A wealth assessment based on stock market value makes the top ten an ever-changing list, the Forbes Real Time Billionaires list tracking the many different competitors as they rapidly rise and fall. The Hurun Report\u2019s annual China Rich List (published October 2020) offers a more long-term view, providing the names for our list of China\u2019s richest in 2020, but as of January 2021, real-time positions had already shifted dramatically. Hurun estimates are taken from September 2020, Forbes from mid-January 2021.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"launchpad<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Zhong Shanshan<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Company<\/strong>: Nongfu Spring; YST
\nLocation<\/strong>: Hangzhou
\nIndustry<\/strong>: Beverages and vaccines
\nForbes Estimated Net Worth<\/strong>: US$91.1 billion
\nHurun Estimated Net Worth<\/strong>: US$53.7 billion
\nAge<\/strong>: 66<\/p>\n

Zhong Shanshan is a bottled water magnate, and now the richest man in Asia. China is the world\u2019s biggest market for bottled water, already forecast to be worth US$58 billion in 2020 and expected to grow at a compound annual growth of 4.9%, according to Statista.<\/p>\n

Zhong has rocketed to the top this year thanks to the IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange of his brand Nongfu Spring, whose red-capped bottles of mineral water are as ubiquitous in Chinese shops as Coca-Cola. Nongfu saw its value rise by US$47 billion through its IPO, and Zhong owns an 84.4% stake in the company. Bottled water is considered by investors as a safe bet in the current uncertain economic climate. He is also the owner of the vaccination company Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy, which listed in April last year on the Shanghai stock exchange, currently with a market capitalisation of US$17 billion. At the time of writing, he has overtaken Jack Ma and Ma Huateng (who topped Hurun\u2019s China Rich List 2020) to become Asia\u2019s richest man and in the Top 10 of the Forbes Rich List.<\/p>\n

After dropping out of elementary school during the Cultural Revolution, he started out doing odd jobs as a mushroom farmer, builder and peddler of erectile dysfunction pills. Zhong launched his Nongfu Spring brand back in 1996, edging ahead of rivals by switching from purified water to mineral water, arguing it was more beneficial to health; that Nongfu Spring tasted sweet was only further proof that it was good for you. The company has since branched out into numerous beverages, including orange juice and coffee, and currently has a market share of over 26%. Zhong is a notable recluse, refusing to speak to the press and telling China Daily in 2016 \u201cI don\u2019t like making friends with businesspeople\u201d. It\u2019s not for nothing that he\u2019s been nicknamed the \u201cLone Wolf\u201d.<\/p>\n