China is having its fastest year of wealth accumulation this year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the related economic crisis. China has 60 billionaires who aren't yet 40. Fourteen of the 60 just became billionaires this year, thanks to the tech-fueled stock market surge. China is now home to 878 billionaires, worth a combined $4 trillion. Just a decade ago, China only had 189 billionaires. Let's take a look at the top 20 Chinese billionaires under 40.
#19. (tie) Yan Wu
Age: 39
Company: Hakim Unique
Net Worth: $2.5 billion
Yan Wu and her 40-year-old husband Qicheng Wang co-founded the internet, media, and real estate firm Hakim Unique.
#19. (tie) Zheng Cao
Age: 37
Company: Zhejiang Hangke Technology
Net Worth: $2.5 billion
Zheng Cao is the vice president of the lithium battery producing company Zhejiang Hangke Technology. The company was founded by his father. Their combined stakes in the company equal 70%.
Zhang Zetian (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
#18. Guoyuan Peng
Age: 34
Company: NWY
Net Worth: $2.6 billion
Guoyuan Peng is the chair of NWY, an education group.
#17. Wei Cheng
Age: 37
Company: DiDi
Net Worth: $2.8 billion
Wei Cheng is the founder and CEO of China's ride-share company DiDi. Before launching DiDi in 2012, he spent eight years at Alibaba.
#14. (tie) Yifeng Wang
Age: 36
Company: Zhejiang Century Huatong Group
Net Worth: $3.1 billion
Yifeng Wang is the vice-chairman of carmaker Zhejiang Century Huatong Group. His father is chairman of the company.
#14. (tie) Yixiao Cheng
Age: 35
Company: Kuaishou
Net Worth: $3.1 billion
Yixiao Chang co-founded the short video platform Kuaishou. Before founding Kuaishou, Chang was a software engineer at HP.
#14. (tie) Tianshi Chen
Age: 35
Company: Cambricon Technologies
Net Worth: $3.1 billion
Tianshi Chen is the CEO and co-founder of Cambricon Technologies, a chipmaker for smartphones.
#13. Liang Zhang
Age: 38
Company: R&F
Net Worth: $3.45 billion
Liang Zhang is the son of Li Zhang, the founder, and co-chair of real estate development firm R&F.
#12. Xiang Li
Age: 39
Company: Li Auto
Net Worth: $3.5 billion
Xiang Li is often called China's Elon Musk. He is the founder of Beijing-based electric car maker Li Auto. The company went public in July 2020 on the NASDAQ.
#11. Meng Yang and Li He
Ages: 38 and 36
Company: Anker
Net Worth: $3.7 billion
Meng Yang and Li He's Anker is the maker of chargers for iPhones. Their net worths, combined, doubled when Anker made its IPO in August.
#10. Hua Su
Age: 38
Company: Kuaishou
Net Worth: $3.8 billion
Hua Su founded Kuaishou in 2011 as an app to make GIFs. He transitioned it into a video sharing platform. Before founding his company, Hua Su worked at Google and Baidu.
#9. Gang Ye
Age: 39
Company: Sea
Net Worth: $4.9 billion
Gang Ye is one of the co-founders of Sea, a game developer.
#8. Qun Wu
Age: 32
Company: Yuwell
Net Worth: $5.3 billion
Qun Wu is the son of Guangming Wu, the founder, and chairman of Yuwell, a medical equipment maker.
#7. Xiaosong Wang
Age: 33
Company: Seazen
Net Worth: $6.4 billion
Xiosong Wang is the chairman and president of Seazen, a real estate company founded by his father.
#6. Gang Zhang
Age: 39
Company: Xinfalyudian
Net Worth: $8.8 billion
Gang Zhang runs Xinfalyudian, an aluminum company. He has doubled his net worth over the past year.
#5. Bangxin Zhang
Age: 39
Company: TAL Education
Net Worth: $14 billion
Bangxin Xhang is the co-founder and chairman of Beijing-based tutoring company TAL Education. The company went public in 2010 and has had enormous growth in 2020 amid the remote learning of the coronavirus pandemic.
#4. Yiming Zhang
Age: 37
Company: ByteDance
Net Worth: $16 billion
Yiming Zhang is the founder and CEO of ByteDance, which is a Chinese internet technology company. The company's core product is Toutiao, which is a Chinese content platform.
#3. Hao Yan
Age: 34
Company: Pacific Construction Group
Net Worth: $21.3 billion
Hao Yan is the chairman of the construction company founded by his father in 1986.
#2. Zetian Zhang
Age: 27
Company: JD.com
Net Worth: $23.5 billion
Zetian Zhang and her husband, Liu Qiandong, saw their net worths surge this year thanks to the growth of Liu's e-commerce company JD.com. Zhang is an investor and is the chief fashion advisor of JD.com's luxury business.
#1. Huiyan Yang
Age: 39
Company: Country Garden
Net Worth: $24 billion
Huiyan Yang is the richest woman in Asia. She is the majority shareholder of Country Garden, the property developer founded by her father in 1992.
