Russell Flannery, Forbes' Shanghai Bureau Chief and Compiler of the Forbes' China Rich List, said: "A big reason for the jump in wealth among China's leading businesspeople is the success they had in listing their companies overseas. The growing number of Chinese listings on stock markets around the world is an extension of China's rapidly expanding influence in world trade and investment in general."

A quarter of the top 40 richest people on this year's list are under 40 years old, making the list the world's youngest, according to Flannery.

China's richest woman is Yan Cheung, the 49-year-old co-founder and chairperson of Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Limited, one of the world's largest makers of packaging paper. She is ranked number five on Forbes' China Rich List, as her wealth reaches US$1.5 billion.

Forbes has a long tradition of wealth ranking in the US and around the world, and annually ranks the 40 Richest in every major Asian country. It began its China Rich List in 2003.

At a glance, the 10 richest are:

1. Huang Guangyu: US$2.3 billion
2. Xu Rongmao: US$2.1 billion
3. Larry Rong Zhijian: US$2 billion
4. Zhu Mengyi: US$1.9 billion
5. Yan Cheung: US$1.5 billion
6. Zhang Li: US$1.45 billion
7. Shi Zhengrong: US$1.43 billion
8. Liu Yongxing: US$1.16 billion
9. Guo Guangchang: US$1.15 billion
10. Lu Guanqiu: US$1.14 billion

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