'The Richest in Greater China' Is Nongfu Founder... Jack Ma Ranks 5th

The richest person in the Chinese-speaking world remains Zhong Shanshan (67), the founder of the Chinese bottled water company Nongfu Spring.

According to the "Hurun China Rich List 2021" released on the 27th by Hurun Research Institute, a Chinese wealth research organization, Zhong Shanshan topped the list with a personal fortune of $60.6 billion (approximately 70.9 trillion KRW), reported Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK.

The second place was taken by Zhang Yiming (38), founder of ByteDance, which owns TikTok. His wealth was estimated at $52.8 billion (approximately 61.8 trillion KRW), tripling compared to last year.

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, who once held the top spot in China, and his family ranked fifth. Hurun Research Institute explained that "Alibaba's financial affiliate Ant Group's IPO was halted, and Alibaba was fined $2.8 billion for monopolistic practices, causing their ranking to drop."

Li Ka-shing, founder of Cheung Kong (CK) Group and the richest person in Hong Kong, along with his family, ranked eighth with a fortune of $33.4 billion (approximately 39 trillion KRW).

Hurun Research Institute stated that this is the first time they have released a list of wealthy individuals from the Chinese-speaking regions including the two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Taiwan.

The total number of Chinese richest individuals owning assets over 2 billion yuan (approximately 346.5 billion KRW) reached 2,918, an increase of 520 people (22%) compared to the previous year. Hong Kong accounted for 151 of them.

Hurun Research Institute explained that while individuals in the semiconductor and sports brand sectors showed strong performance, those involved in the new energy business rapidly increased their wealth.