China now has more billionaires than the US - how they struck gold

There are more billionaires in China than in the US for the first time, according to the Hurun Rich List . In total, the Asian economic power has 596 dollar billionaires, compared to 537 in the US. Property tycoon Wang Jianlin snatched back the top spot from failed student Jack Ma, who founded online market site Alibaba . Canny Wang has added some eggs to his basket by expanding into the
cinema business and buying a 20% stake in Spanish football club Atlético de Madrid. Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman, said: "China is now officially the most exciting country in the world for entrepreneurship. "Just look at the sheer numbers of top entrepreneurs, eclipsing the US for the first time in its history." Chinese billionaires stand out for their humble origins - 95% are self-made. And 21% of Chinese billionaires are women. Zhou Qunfei, China’s richest woman, quit school at 15 but put herself through university as a part-time student and started touch-screen maker Lens Technology in 2003. Zong Qinghou, founder of drinks company Wahaha, couldn't even get a good job because of his poor education. So he started selling milk instead. Josh Crabb, head of Asian Equities at Old Mutual Global Investors, said: "This shows that a preoccupation with the negative news in China, which perhaps underestimates the real change that is occurring in the economy. "In fact, focusing on issues like how many people are employed and how much tax is paid from these new areas is very important." So what does it take to be a Chinese billionaire?

You work in one of these industries

Edgar Su/Reuters

Alibaba founder Jack Ma

TECH Four of the top 10 Chinese billionaires are IT tycoons, including Pony Ma Huateng of Tencent, Robin Li Yanhong and Melissa Ma Dongmin of the search engine Baidu and Jack Ma of Alibaba. PROPERTY INVESTMENTS As well as Wan Jianlin, boss of property company Wanda, four of the other top 10 billionaires have some stake in real estate. MANUFACTURING Made in China is a lucrative business - outside of the top 10, manufacturing was the most common industry for Hurun rich list members.

You live in one of these cities

Where Chinese billionaires live

BeijingShenzhen Shanghai0246810121416% of billionaires

You probably have one of these Chinese star signs

12.1% of billionaires

10.4% of billionaires

9.9% of billionaires

You have a lot of social media fans

The actress Zhao Wei, who made the list for the first time, has 73.5million followers on Chinese social media platform Sino Weibo. Jack Ma has 19.7million followers and real estate tycoon Pan Shiyi has 17.3million followers. To put that in context, US Presidential candidate and general business motormouth Donald Trump has 4.6million followers on Twitter.