By Eduardo Baptista

HONG KONG (Reuters – China’s big income earners were buoyed by bottled water, vaccines development and short video platform TikTok. Meanwhile, other regulatory-minded property moguls fell behind the leaders on China’s rich list.

Zhong Shanshan ranked no. No. 1 in the Hurun China Rich List 2021, published Wednesday. His personal wealth was $60.6 billion, thanks to a significant increase in the values of Nongfu Spring (Biological Pharmacy Enterprise) and Beijing Wantai (Biological Pharmacy Enterprise).

Zhang Yiming founder of ByteDance, CATL Chairman Zeng Yuqun and Tencent Holdings, (OTC) Pony Ma and Jack Ma founders Alibaba These are the final five.

Ma, who had previously topped the rich list for three years running, dropped places following the suspension of Ant Group’s initial public offering and the slapping of a record fine on Alibaba for monopolistic behaviour.

Hui Ka Yan (founder of China Evergrande Group) also fell down the list, despite regulatory scrutiny. He lost approximately 70% of his net worth and was left with $11.3 billion.

Xu’s financial situation has plummeted since the second-largest property developer in China is now under $300 billion of liabilities.

After a crackdown on excess borrowing, the Hurun Report reported that there was a financial crunch in the property sector.

China Fortune Land founder Wang Wenxue has lost his status as a billionaire, his net worth plummeting 88% to $930million last year.

Yang Huiyan was vice-chairwoman of Country Garden and majority shareholder. She fell five places from 11th.

Zhang Bangxin (NASDAQ:), founder of the home-tutoring company TAL Education Group, also fell off the list. He lost 94% of his net wealth after China banned for-profit tutoring.

Tencent’s Ma saw his wealth increase by 70% in the last year but drop 19% as his video game business suffered from new and stricter restrictions on games time for minors.

WINNERS

The report stated that in a nation of over 1.4 billion citizens, only 2,769 individuals were worth more then 2 billion Yuan (313 million).

Luo Liguo (chief executive at solar product company Hoshine Silicon Industry Co) was the biggest mover among the top 100. He multiplied his wealth 6.5x, moving from the 220th spot to the 21st.

In response to allegations that Uyghurs were forced laborers in China’s Xinjiang area, the Biden administration banned U.S. imports Hoshine materials. China responded to this action by stating that it will take all necessary steps to safeguard its companies’ rights and interests.

Zhang of ByteDance, who owns the short-video platform TikTok and tripled his wealth last year, is expected to claim No. The Hurun Report stated that the No. 1 spot will be occupied by Zhang, who owns short-video platform TikTok and has tripled his wealth from last year to $52.8 billion.

Zhang “is a likely candidate to become the next Number One in China, especially if he gets to list ByteDance”, according to Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report’s chairman.