Zhang Yin, China's richest person, according to Hurun Report. [China Daily]

By the end of 2005, 28 per cent of entrepreneurs in Shanghai were women and 44 per cent of management positions in trading and finance companies had been taken by women.

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It was a big surprise for many that China's richest person is a 49-year-old woman, Zhang Yin, a recycling paper tycoon.

Unveiled in October, the Hurun Report put Zhang top of its China Rich List - the first time a woman has claimed the number one spot - with a personal fortune of US$3.4 billion.

Even more impressive, her fortune makes her the richest self-made woman in the world, surpassing the likes of Oprah Winfrey, a celebrated US television hostess, and JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series.

Behind the novelty,Zhang's success reflects women's growing status in the business world.

For hundreds of years in China, women had almost no rights until the social revolutions last century broke their spiritual shackles.Around half-a-century after Chairman Mao Zedong said "Women hold up half the sky", Chinese women have won almost equal status in many areas. And they have a strengthened presence in business.

Of the 500 entrepreneurs making up the China Rich List, 35 are women, covering areas from property development and metal trading, to media and energy - sectors traditionally dominated by men.

According to the China Association of Women Entrepreneurs, around 20 per cent of Chinese enterprises have women as bosses. A figure that has doubled since the 1980s.

Zhao Di, president of the association,said women have played a more and more important role in business thanks to the booming economy in China.

In Shanghai, the country's economic powerhouse, women are more actively involved in business.

By the end of 2005, 28 per cent of entrepreneurs in the city were women and 44 per cent of management positions in trading and finance companies had been taken by women, according to a survey by Zheng Lizhen, director of the Shanghai Women Entrepreneurs' Association.

"Shanghai women's enthusiasm for self-employment keeps growing. Women's willingness to start up businesses keeps rising and self-employed women are becoming younger and better educated," said Zheng at recent international forum in Shanghai on women's development and economic participation.

The city saw the number of women entrepreneurs increase rapidly after 1992 aseconomic development took off. By 2005, 39 per cent of those registered as self-employment were women. By the end of last year, more than 130,000 of the city's 470,000 entrepreneurs were women. And more than 11 per cent of women in Shanghai are willing to be self-employed.

Analyzing successful women entrepreneurs,experts find that women have a higher success rate in business than men because they take fewer risks and are often stronger psychologically.

About 90 per cent of women achieve success only one year after starting their business, while the rate for men is 50 per cent. Among 1.5 million enterprises managed by women, only 1.5 per cent are loss-making while 98 per cent turn a profit,surveys from the All China Women's Federation show.

"Keeping learning and updating skills guarantees our success in the business establishment," said Yu Jinqi, general manager of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Company, who added that some feminine strengths like rational thinking, flexibility and tolerance Women born to be bosses enable women to succeed in management.

"Women have a more collaborative style with the emphasis on relationship building, gathering information and consulting several sources when making a decision," said Lorraine Hariton, chair of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives in the United States.

Zheng Zheng, vice-president of Shanghai International Trade (Group) believes women are born to be managers, yet the way to becoming a successful entrepreneur is hard, with a particular challenge being trying to balance family and work.

In a survey of 30 local Shanghai women entrepreneurs, a quarter had experienced divorce and 80 per cent of those had occurred after they had achieved success in business.

"Chinese tradition still thinks women should focus their attention on the family and husbands usually don't want their wives exposed too much in public," said Fei Juanhong, a researcher with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

"The image of a successful businesswoman makes husbands feel they will lose face."