Ranking of the 12 richest people in China as of 2025

As of January 2025, Zhang Yiming topped the list of the richest people in China with a net worth of 60 billion U.S. dollars. Zhong Shanshan, founder of the beverage company Nongfu Spring, and Ma Huateng, founder of the IT giant Tencent, came in second and third respectively, while Ma Yun, founder of the IT giant Alibaba, fell back to the tenth place. 

Ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWI) in China

Net worth refers to the amount of value by which an individual’s assets exceed their liabilities. It is usually cited to demonstrate the economic position of a person. Following China’s extensive economic development over the past two decades, the number of wealthy people had been rapidly growing as well. According to Hurun Research Institute, Greater China was the region with the second largest number of billionaires worldwide as of 2025, with a total number of 870 billionaires. As of February 2025, the number of millionaires had amounted to approximately 19,000 people in Beijing alone. Unsurprisingly, the majority of high-net worth individuals lives in one of the four first-tier cities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. 

Chinese billionaire's sources of wealth

Chinese millionaires have accumulated their wealth primarily as private entrepreneurs. Most of the people listed among the 20 wealthiest Chinese in 2024 had owned their own companies. Zhang Yiming, who topped the list of richest people in China in 2025, has made his fortune as founder of BytaDance and Douyin, the social media platform internationally known as TikTok.