Analysts say that despite Xi’s administration’s war on poverty to try “to head off social unrest”, his five-year reign has accelerated a vast accumulation of corporate wealth. Among the list’s top 100, average wealth rose 60 percent this year.

The Chinese Communist Party, CCP, which is holding its 19th national congress this week, will not be pleased by the latest list of the country’s billionaires and multi-millionaires.
Some 2,130 Chinese now have fortunes estimated to exceed $US300 million, roughly double the number from five years ago. At least 74 individuals have  joined the 2017 Hurun rich list, bringing the list’s combined assets to $2.6 trillion.
Three of the entrepreneurs on the Hurun list—Li Denghai, a corn tycoon; Wu Shaoxun, an alcohol magnate; and Pan Gang, who made his fortune in milk—will be delegates to the CPC meet. The combined fortunes of the wealthiest members of Parliament, the National People’s Congress, and its advisory body amount to around $500 billion.
According to Hurun, China now accounts for 36 percent of the world’s billionaires. It has 647 billionaires in American dollar terms, up from 594 the year before. In 2003, there were none.
Pony Ma Huateng, founder and chief executive of Tencent, took the No 2 spot on the 2017 Hurun list with a net worth of $37 billion, overtaking Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma at $30 billion, who ranked third. Fourth was Yang Huiyan, the largest shareholder of real estate developer Country Garden. Her wealth tripled to $24 billion.Analysts say that despite Xi’s administration’s war on poverty to try “to head off social unrest”, his five-year reign has accelerated a vast accumulation of corporate wealth. Among the list’s top 100, average wealth rose 60 percent this year.

Chinese economy is facing hiccups with an unstable financial system, a superheated property market, massive overcapacity and growing frustration amongst the youth.

“Overall, the Hurun Rich List has grown faster than any year since 2007, with the possible exception of 2015,” Hurun Report chairman Rupert Hoogewerf said in a statement. “China’s entrepreneurs have come a long way. Back in 1999, when I put out the first list, I managed to rank 50 people.”
Hurun acknowledged there were many more multimillionaires whose wealth was hidden. “For every one we have found, we estimate there to be two that we have missed,” Hoogewerf said.
Xu Jiayin, head of property group Evergrande, tops the rankings with a fortune of $43 billion—up by $30 billion in just one year on the back of a debt-fuelled property boom. Known as Hui Ka-yan, he focused on the internal property market and funded domestic football teams, and benefited from the drive to favour internal investment and clamp down on the movement of funds overseas.
Evergrande has become one of China’s largest property groups by sales. Since the start of this year, the price of its shares in Hong Kong has risen by 465 percent.
Xu epitomises the integration of the billionaires into the ruling stratum. He is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the top advisory body. The State Council, China’s cabinet, bestowed on him the title “National Model Worker”—one of the country’s highest civilian honours.
President Xi’s government claims to have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty but some estimates say poverty afflicts up to half a billion Chinese. Moreover, China now has one of the most unequal wealth distributions of any large economy in the world.
A study released in June by French economist Thomas Piketty sharply revised upward China’s official inequality estimates.
“The top 10 percent income share rose from 27 percent to 41 percent of national income between 1978 and 2015, while the bottom 50 percent share dropped from 27 percent to 15 percent,”Piketty study reported.
Many of the Chinese oligarchs are sitting on a sea of debt. Evergrande, for instance, has a market value of $47 billion, but its total debt stands at more than $100 billion.
Evergrande has been forced to pledge to the financial markets to cut its net debt ratio from 240 percent to around 70 percent by June 2020. In a report earlier this year, international ratings agency Fitch warned that Evergrande’s high interest expenses and payouts to shareholders would prevent it from reducing its debt significantly.
Pony Ma Huateng, founder and chief executive of Tencent, took the No 2 spot on the 2017 Hurun list with a net worth of $37 billion, overtaking Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma at $30 billion, who ranked third. Fourth was Yang Huiyan, the largest shareholder of real estate developer Country Garden. Her wealth tripled to $24 billion.Aside from real estate, technology names led the wealth rankings, with Baidu’s Robin Li and NetEase’s Ding Lei, both making the top 10. Of the 2,130 individuals on the list, 43 came from Alibaba and its affiliate, Ant Financial.

President Xi’s government claims to have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty but some estimates say poverty afflicts up to half a billion Chinese. Moreover, China now has one of the most unequal wealth distributions of any large economy.

Alibaba’s market capitalisation is now $473 billion, while Tencent’s is at $428 billion. By comparison, Exxon Mobil is valued at around $350 billion.
Last year’s Hurun list leader, Wang Jianlin, dropped to fifth after drop in the share price of his Wanda Group saw his family’s net worth slump 28 percent to $23 billion. Wang built Dalian Wanda from a real estate developer into a global empire spanning cinema chains, Hollywood studios and Spanish football. But its shares tumbled this year when Beijing authorities instructed banks to stem their lending to acquisitive groups.
The Chinese economic scene is facing hiccups, according to various reports with an unstable financial system, a superheated property market, massive overcapacity and growing frustration amongst the youth.