Chinese billionaire expected to top world's rich list: report

The report says according to its annual ranking of China's wealthy, China has seen the fastestgrowth in the past ten years.

Widely-known in China as Hurun, Rupert Hoogewerf, a British businessman and founder ofthe Hurun Rich List, predicts the richest person in China will also become the world's richestby 2020.

According to the latest report released by the Hurun Research Institute, China has beaten theUnited States in the number of billionaires, which Hoogewerf believes is a critical turning pointfor Chinese entrepreneurs.

Chinese entrepreneurship will also come into the spotlight, Hoogewerf said.

He notes the richest people in the United States has rarely changed in the past decade, while12 Chinese people have achieved the title over the past 17 years.

Hoogewerf predicts Jack Ma, founder and CEO of China's E-commerce giant Alibaba groupwill overtake Wang Jianlin, the property tycoon, as the wealthiest person on the Chinesemainland. He believes Wang's other potential rivals on the list include Chinese internetentrepreneur Pony Ma, founder and CEO of Tencent Holdings, one of the largest Internetcompanies in China, and Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, a phone maker known for its affordablemodels.

The British businessman values the overall wealth of the world's richest at 500 billion yuan or$76.65 billion, while Wang and Ma are valued at 200 billion yuan each. Judging from thecurrent speed of their growing wealth, Hoogewerf predicts, in five years, the richest person inthe world will be Chinese.

Source: China Daily