The Hurun Research Institute published China’s 1,000 Rich List for 2012. The shift in China’s economy has affected the list in that the super rich candidates from China showed a net decrease in assets.

In 2012, although 43 out of the top 100 candidates were from the real estate business, for the first time, the number of those who came from the manufacturing sector surpassed those in the real estate sector. Meanwhile, the threshold that delineated the top 1,000 was 1.8 billion yuan, down from 2 billion yuan the previous year. Of these, the number of candidates who held over 10 billion in asset totaled 120, down by seven from the prior year. Of the 1,000 candidates, the net assets of 469 of them decreased, with 37 of them showing a rate of decrease that was 50 percent or more. The professions that were most affected were in the solar energy, clothing, and retail sectors.

The list also showed that 157 or 15.3 percent of the candidates held political titles, including members of the National People’s Congress or the National Committee. Beijing is the city that had the most rich people, with Shanghai in second place and Shen Zheng in third place.

Source: BBC Chinese, September 25, 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2012/09/120925_china_richlist.shtml