'Brilliant' Chinese women lead the business world

By Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-17 11:55

Half of the world's richest self-made women are Chinese.

According to the newly released 2009 Hurun List of the Richest Women, five of the 10 most successful female billionaires are from the Chinese mainland.

The latest list of China's rich women includes 51 women who appeared among the 104 women on the 2009 Hurun Rich List, which ranked the most wealthy 1,000 men and women in China.

The average wealth of the women on the new list is 6.6 billion yuan ($966 million). Their fortunes rose, on average, by 30 percent this year.

The top female Chinese entrepreneur on the list is "Paper Queen" Zhang Yin, from Nine Dragons Paper, who has assets worth $4.9 billion. She is followed by Yang Huiyan, from Country Garden, who is worth $4.6 billion, and Chen Lihua, from Fu Wah International Group, who has $3.4 billion in assets.

"If you tell people the best pingpong team in the world has half of its members coming from the Chinese mainland, they will take it for granted," said Rupert Hoogewerf, the list's compiler.

"But it is surprising to know that half of the richest women in the world come from the Chinese mainland."

The average age of the 51 richest women on the list is 46, and most made their money from property or the finance and manufacturing sections.

Hoogewerf said the wealthiest self-made women in the United Kingdom and United States are also very well known - author J.K. Rowling in the UK and talk show host Oprah Winfrey in the US - yet they both lag behind Zhang Yin in terms of wealth.

The 52-year-old Zhang founded Nine Dragons Paper.

The company buys scrap paper from the US, imports it into China, and mainly turns it into cardboard boxes used in the export of Chinese goods. The company is China's biggest paper maker.

In October 2006, at 49, Zhang became the first woman to top the list of the richest people in China.

Her personal fortune at the time was $4 billion.

"I came up with the idea of making a list of the richest women in China in 2006 when Zhang became the richest person, the first time a woman was in that position", Hoogewerf told China Daily.

Zhang's wealth shrank sharply last October by $300 million because of the economic crisis but it rebounded back to $4.9 billion by this September.

This year's list of 1,000 super rich men and women in China includes 104 women, 16 more than last year.

Most of them are self-made entrepreneurs.

Hoogewerf was at a loss to explain why Chinese women are so adept at making a big impression in the business world but he has one or two theories.

"I guess one reason is that they enjoy a balanced and equal social status in terms of politics, culture and economy.

The other is that Chinese women mostly let their parents take care of their only child, which allows them to focus more on their career," he said.

"After all, one thing for sure is that Chinese women are brilliant."