A total of 64 people from the Chinese mainland made the Forbes magazine list of the world's richest billionaires, moving up to take second place for the first time.
The US led the list, released Wednesday, with 403 billionaires. The Chinese mainland was followed by Russia with 62 billionaires. Of the world's 97 new billionaires, 62 were from Asia.
Among the super-rich from the Chinese mainland, 27 made the list for the first time.
In addition, 25 people from Hong Kong made it into the billionaires club, while 18 Taiwan people entered the list. More than 10 percent of billionaires on the list came from the Greater China Area, namely the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
The total number of billionaires stood at 1,011. That's much higher than the 793 super-rich who made in onto the list last year, but lower than the record number of 1,125 in 2008.
Chinese entrepreneur Zong Qinghou, CEO of eastern Hangzhou's Wahaha Group, is the wealthiest person in the Chinese mainland, according to the list.
Zong Qinghou, CEO of Wahaha Group. Rank: 103
The tycoon, with his $7 billion beverage empire, ranks 103rd in the 2010 world's richest list, while Mexico's Carlos Slim, the son of an immigrant shopkeeper and major stakeholder of the New York Times, claims the top throne with his $53.5 billion fortune.Slim was $500 million ahead of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Legendary investor Warren Buffet was third with $47 billion.
According to Forbes' counting, the richest person in Hong Kong is Li Ka-sing with a fortune of $21 billion. The richest person in Taiwan is Terry Tai-Ming Gou, founder of one of the world's largest electronics manufacturing service company Hon Hai, with a fortune of $5.5 billion.
The world's richest woman, according to Forbes, was Wal-Mart heiress Christy Walton, whose $22.5-billion fortune put her in twelfth place. Only 89 women made it in to the billionaires club, and most inherited their wealth. Of the 14 self-made female billionaires, seven came from the mainland.
The 24th Forbes list included people from 55 countries and regions, with first entries from Finland and Pakistan.Mainland's Top 10 Billionaires
RankNameAgeNet Worth ($bil)103Zong Qinghou647154Liu Yongxing625176Zhang Jindong474.5189Wang Chuanfu444.4212Hui Ka Yan514232Wu Yajun & family463.9249Liang Wengen533.6249Ma Huateng383.6258Robin Li413.5277Chen Fashu493.4277Yang Huiyan283.4
Liu Yongxing, chairman of the Hope Oriental Corporation. Rank: 154
Zhang Jindong, president of Suning Group. Rank: 176
Wang Chuanfu, founder of BYD Company. Rank: 189
Hui Ka Yan, president of Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd. Rank: 212
Wu Yajun, general director of Longhu Real Estate Development Co. Rank: 232
Liang Wengen, chairman of SANY Group. Rank: 249
Ma Huateng, president and CEO Tencent Holdings Limited. Rank: 249
Robin Li, CEO of Baidu Inc. Rank: 258
Chen Fashu, founder of New Huadu group. Rank: 277
Yang Huiyan. Rank: 277. Her fortune is tied up in her holding in Guangdong developer Country Garden, run by her father Yang Guoqiang, who transferred the shares to her before the firm's 2007 public offering.
