Mao Zedong once said 'women hold up half the sky'. There's little doubt that, since feudal times, the status of women in China has improved. A recent report reveals more than half the world's top 20 wealthiest, self-made women are Chinese. Yet some say China has far to go in achieving true gender equality.
The latest Hurun Rich List from Hurun Report magazine shows 11 of the world's top 20 wealthiest, self-made women, including the top three, are Chinese.
Topping the list is Zhang Yin, 53, founder and director of paper recycling company Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings), who is valued at US$5.6 billion. Zhang co-founded the company with her husband and younger brother in 1995.
In second place is Wu Yajun, 46, the chief executive of property development company Longfor Properties, with a net worth of US$4.1 billion. She was an engineer and a journalist, and started developing real estate in her hometown of Chongqing .
Beijinger Chen Lihua, 69, third at US$4 billion, was born to a poor family and began a furniture maintenance business in 1976. She worked in Hong Kong real estate in the 1980s before launching a property company back home.
American media mogul Oprah Winfrey is ninth, on US$2.3 billion, and J.K. Rowling, the British Harry Potter author, just makes the top 20, with US$1 billion.
'China is the world's clear leader for women in business,' said Rupert Hoogewerf, the British founder and compiler of the list. 'This is a story that deserves more attention.'