The wealthy rise and fall as new faces and industries appear as leaders on this year's rich list

The Hurun Research Institute today releases its 2010 Hurun Rich List, the 12th annual ranking of the richest individuals in China.

Despite the domestic stock markets declining 10 percent over the past year, the richest Chinese have seen their fortunes grow rapidly -- the average wealth of the Hurun top 1,000 grew 64 percent over the past two years and 26 percent in the past year.

Today, there are 1,363 individuals with 1 billion yuan ($150 million), up from 1,000 last year and only 24 a decade ago.

Four new faces made the top five this year, led by Zong Qinghou and Li Li.

Zong Qinghou, Board Chairman and General Manager of the Hangzhou-based Wahaha Group, is the richest man in China, with a personal fortune of $12 billion. "Drinks King" Zong grew Wahaha into China's dominant beverage company with expected profits this year of $1.5 billion. Wahaha also employs 30,000 people. Zong, who with his wife and daughter owns 60 percent of Wahaha, jumped from 12th place on last year's list.

Li Li & Family caused a sensation when Hepalink, which makes the blood thinner heparin, went public in May, catapulting him straight into the list's second place spot with a personal fortune of $6 billion. Li Li, 46, his wife Li Tan and her cousin Shan Yu founded the business in 1998 and together own a 75.6 percent stake. Hepalink's blood thinning products are purified from pig intestines and used to prevent blood clots. Li Li's rise is the first time a pharmaceutical tycoon has made it onto the Hurun list's top five.

"The Hurun Rich List entrepreneur is fast becoming more sophisticated towards the capital markets, with 738 individuals on the Hurun Rich List 2010 controlling at least one listed entity," said Rupert Hoogewerf, founder and compiler of the Hurun Rich List. "They have been gleaning experience on both the international and domestic exchanges, and understand how to make the best use of international advisers."

China's urbanization has meant that property is still the biggest creator of wealth in China. Many of the youngest tycoons are involved in the entertainment industry. Financial services and mining sectors have attracted the most investors. And health care, IT, retail and apparels industries have all enjoyed record years.

"There is a clear trend towards Hurun Rich List entrepreneurs cashing out of their main industries and becoming investors," said Hoogewerf.

Property is still the biggest cash-intensive sector for those on the Hurun Rich List, with 20.1 percent listing property as one of their key investment industries. Comparatively speaking, it has been a good year for commercial property and a difficult year for residential property, mainly due to government attempts to keep property prices down.

Now, China's property tycoons are by and far richer than tycoons from any other industry -- the average wealth of the top 10 richest property developers is more than double the average wealth of retail and IT, the runner-up industries. But this year there are only two pure property tycoons in the top 10, compared with six last year.

The past year has also been a profitable one for China's IT tycoons, with the average wealth of the IT top 50 now hitting $800 million, the highest since the Hurun Report started its IT rich list eight years ago. China's IT tycoons have created the largest companies on the Hurun Rich List, with four of the eight companies from this sector -- Huawei, Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba Group -- accumulating a market capitalization of 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) together.

The Hurun Rich List is the most comprehensive attempt to identify China's top entrepreneurs and to measure their earnings and net worth. Hainan Clearwater Bay, a property developed by HK-listed Agile Property, sponsored the Hurun Rich List for the second consecutive year.

Established as a research institute in 1999 by British accountant Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Inc. has grown into a leading publishing group in Shanghai, China, targeting China's entrepreneurs and high net worth individuals.