The number of dollar billionaires in China has increased by 155 people in a year and now reaches 1,176. Thus, the country has 176 more billionaires than the United States, according to the Hurun China Rich List 2026 ranking by Hurun Research Institute.
A total of 1,529 people in China have a fortune of at least 5 billion yuan, or about 740 million dollars. Their number has increased by 6.6%, or 95 people, compared to last year and reaches a historical record. The previous maximum was 1,460 people in 2021. The total wealth of those included in the ranking has increased by 7% to 4.8 trillion dollars. The wealth data is as of September 1, 2026.
Despite the increase, the number of dollar billionaires is still slightly below the record 1,185 recorded in 2021. This year, 263 new names entered the ranking. At the same time, 911 of the participants reported a decrease in their wealth or did not register a change, and 167 people dropped from the list.
Artificial intelligence creates new wealth
The technology sector, and especially artificial intelligence, is becoming one of the main drivers of wealth accumulation in China. About 160 people on the ranking already owe their fortune to the AI business. On the other hand, entrepreneurs in real estate, traditional manufacturing and some of the consumer sector are under pressure.
The richest person in China is once again the founder of ByteDance Zhang Yiming. The fortune of the 43-year-old entrepreneur has grown by 43% to a record $99.7 billion. Hurun attributes the sharp increase mainly to the company's aggressive entry into the field of artificial intelligence. ByteDance owns TikTok and the Chinese platform Douyin, and the AI assistant Doubao has become one of the company's leading products.
In second place is the founder of the bottled water company Nongfu Spring Jun Shanshan with a fortune of about $61 billion, which, however, has decreased by 23%. Third is the chairman of the battery manufacturer CATL Robin Zeng. Among the new representatives of the technological elite is the founder of DeepSeek Liang Wenfeng, who directly enters seventh place. Chen Tianshi, head of AI chip maker Cambricon, also makes the top 10.
Another indicator of the structural changes in China's economy is the situation in real estate. For the first time, there is no mainland Chinese entrepreneur in the top 100 whose main wealth comes from the property sector. This reflects the ongoing problems in the real estate market and the contrast with the rapid accumulation of wealth in AI, semiconductors and robotics.
Women account for 23.2% of those included in the Hurun China Rich List 2026, which is an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to last year. About 70% of them have amassed their wealth independently. The richest woman in China is Lens Technology founder Zhou Qiongfei, with a fortune of about $19 billion.
The Hurun ranking covers China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Of the 1,529 people included, 1,282 live in mainland China, 217 in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and 30 outside Greater China. The largest concentration of entrepreneurs on the list is in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing. Their average age is 61 years.