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Combined worth falls by more than half as markets founder
The combined wealth of the mainland's 40 richest people has been more than halved as slumping stock and property prices take their toll on  their bank balances and assets, a Forbes survey shows.
The wealth of the top 40 super rich was slashed to US$52 billion from last year's US$120 billion.
Property entrepreneurs  were the hardest hit, with more than 30 per cent  of developers listed in the top 400 last year disappearing from this year's  roster.
The mainland market is in a prolonged decline  as the global credit crisis, domestic austerity measures  and a sliding stock market batter the   previously high-flying sector.
Larry Yung Chi-kin, the chairman of   Citic Pacific, dived to  63rd, from ninth last year, after the company's stock price plunged  55 per cent last week following  a HK$15.5 billion foreign currency trade debacle.
Liu Yongxing,  who amassed  US$3 billion from animal feed and aluminium  production, topped the list in a sign that traditional  industries such as agriculture are becoming more attractive than retail and property development.
While Mr Liu, the chairman of unlisted East Hope Group, saw his ranking leap from 20th  place last year on a US$600 million  surge in his wealth, the slide in equity markets took a huge bite out of the affluence of his fellow  billionaires.
'Some companies we visited in March and April [for data collecting] called back only a few months later saying the figure they had provided might have been overestimated,' said Russel  Flannery of Forbes magazine.
'Even  now, they have no idea of where they are financially after so much market volatility.'
The mainland stock market has dropped 66.48 per cent so far this year while the  H-share index recorded a 48.48 per cent decline.
Among the heaviest casualties was Cheung Yan, the founder of Hong Kong-listed manufacturer Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) and the Forbes table-topper in 2006.
She suffered a 95 per cent  plunge in her company's shares, which wiped  US$3.14 billion from her net worth to US$265 million in the past 12 months. Ms Cheung is now in 231st place.
Last year's Forbes  No1 on the mainland, property heiress Yang Huiyan, saw US$14 billion evaporate from her fortune, partly because of ill-timed acquisitions.
She fell to  third place on this year's list with US$2.22 billion,  just below second-placed  consumer electronics retail boss Wong Kwong-yu with US$2.7 billion.
In fourth place is  another Liu family member. Liu Yonghao, the elder brother of top-ranked Liu Yongxing, boasts US$2.2 billion,  generated by his Shanghai-listed New Hope Group.
Four Liu siblings  founded agriculture giant Hope Group in the mid-1980s before splitting up the fast-growing business a decade later.
Another group  to buck the trend  were information technology barons, led by Ma Huateng, of instant messaging giant Tencent Holdings, and William Ding Lei,  the chief executive of the portal NetEase, who jumped to 40th and 63rd places respectively, riding on growth in the internet sector.
'This year's list has seen winners mostly in resources-rich industries like mining and chemicals, while the IT sector has also shown strong growth momentum,'  Mr Flannery said. 'But in the light of the current economic volatility, the hierarchy could change drastically within the next few months ... nothing is for sure in this time of turbulence.'



Turmoil slashes wealth of mainland's 40 richest