(ECNS) -- Chinese property tycoon Wang Jianlin, 62, retains his crown as the richest person in China, with wealth totaling $32.1 billion, followed by Jack Ma Yun of Alibaba and Pony Ma of Tencent, according to the Forest City Hurun Rich List.
It is the third time that Wang, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, tops the list.
Wang holds onto his top spot despite a 41 percent surge in Jack Ma's wealth. Wang completed a $3.5 billion acquisition of the Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment, cementing his reputation as a global media player.
Hurun Report Chairman Rupert Hoogewerf said Jack Ma has become so pervasive that it is hard to open a newspaper without finding mention of him or one of his companies.
He also said that the list swelled by 179 to 2,056 individuals, double that of three years ago and up ten-fold from ten years ago, despite a 20 percent drop in the domestic stock markets and a slowdown in the economy.
Ma Huateng, or Pony Ma, climbed back to third with a net worth of $24.6 billion, up 38 percent year on year.
The biggest riser this year is Yao Zhenhua of Baoneng, shooting up 200 places to fourth on the back of a nine-fold increase in wealth to $17.2 billion. Yao made headlines this year for his aggressive acquisition of the shares of leading real estate developer Vanke.
The other new entries to the Top 10 are Ding Lei of NetEase, Xu Jiayin of Evergrande, and He Xiangjian and son He Jianfeng of Midea. Lei Jun of Xiaomi and Lu Guanqiu of Wanxiang dropped out of the Top 10.
In this year's list, six made their money from real estate, up one from last year. Four are IT tycoons, same as last year. The average age of the Top 10 richest is 54, one year older than last year. Among the richest, 24 percent are women, up 3 percent from last year.
The study also shows that Beijing is the preferred city of residence for 322 individuals, up 43 from last year, followed by Shenzhen and Shanghai. Hong Kong rose one place to seventh.
