China’s richest entrepreneurs attending ‘two sessions’ have seen wealth grow 68 per cent on average last year, Hurun says

The top richest entrepreneurs attending China’s annual parliamentary meetings this year have seen their fortunes swell by an average of 68 per cent over the past year, according to research company Hurun Report.

According to a list of top billionaires attending the “two sessions” it released on Friday, they are worth a combined US$391 billion – more than Hong Kong’s 2020 gross domestic product at about US$349 billion, at current market prices.

Two of the city’s property magnates – Victor Li Tzar-kuoi of CK Holdings and Peter Lee Ka-kit of Henderson Land – made the top 10. A total of four entrepreneurs on the list amassed their fortunes from property, based on January 15 valuations.

Since Thursday, more than 5,000 members of China’s political elite have been converging on Beijing for the “two sessions” or Lianghui, the annual gatherings of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC).

Ma Huateng, also known as Pony Ma, founder and chief executive of Tencent Holdings, is the wealthiest entrepreneur to attend the two meetings this year. He is currently sitting on a fortune worth US$74 billion. Ma, who has been an NPC delegate since 2013, is also ranked by Hurun as the world’s 14th wealthiest billionaire.

“China’s entrepreneurs are booming. Today, there are officially 1,058 dollar billionaires living in China, up 259, ahead of the 696 in the US,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report’s chairman and chief researcher. “Beijing is officially the billionaire capital of the world for the sixth year running with 145 billionaires, whilst Shanghai overtook New York to second place, with 113 billionaires.”