On October 28th, Hurun Research Institute released the 2025 Hurun China Rich List. This marks the 27th consecutive year the institute has published the list since 1999, with wealth calculated as of September 1st, 2025.
Top 10 tycoons: Zhong Shanshan reclaims top spot, tech leaders dominate
Zhong Shanshan, 71-year-old founder of Nongfu Spring, reclaimed the first place and became China’s richest man for the fourth time with a fortune of 5.3 trillion yuan. Zhang Yiming, 42-year-old founder of ByteDance, ranked second with 4.7 trillion yuan, ceding his title as last year’s richest. Ma Huateng of Tencent remained in third place with 4.65 trillion yuan.
Additionally, Zeng Yuqun (CATL), Lei Jun (Xiaomi), Ding Lei (NetEase), and Huang Zheng (Pinduoduo) ranked fourth to seventh respectively, each with a fortune exceeding 3.1 trillion yuan. The He Xiangjian family (Midea), the Li Ka-shing father-son duo (Cheung Kong Holdings), and the Li Shufu family (Geely) took eighth to tenth places, with wealth all surpassing 2.3 trillion yuan.
List overview: Record-breaking numbers driven by market recovery
Across the entire 2025 Hurun China Rich List, a total of 1,434 entrepreneurs with personal wealth of over 5 billion yuan made the cut – an increase of 31% (+340 people) from last year. The total wealth of listed entrepreneurs reached nearly 300 trillion yuan, up 42% (+90 trillion yuan) year-on-year.
Rupert Hoogewerf, Chairman and Chief Research Officer of Hurun Group, stated: “The total number of entrepreneurs on this year’s list is almost an all-time high, largely benefiting from the strong recovery of the stock market – Shanghai Composite Index, Shenzhen Component Index, and Hang Seng Index have all risen by 40-50% compared to the same period last year. The emergence of new faces in the technology sector and growth in export markets also provided crucial support for the increase in listed numbers.”
Wealth growth leaders: Lei Jun becomes “growth king”
In terms of individual growth, Xiaomi’s Lei Jun emerged as the “Growth King”, with his wealth increasing by 1.96 trillion yuan year-on-year. This was mainly driven by the explosive growth of Xiaomi’s automotive business and profit surges from breakthroughs in high-end smartphones.
Following closely was top-ranked Zhong Shanshan, whose wealth rose by 1.9 trillion yuan. Nongfu Spring, which he leads, maintained its position as China’s top packaged drinking water brand with a market share. In the first half of this year, its sales exceeded 25 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of over 15%.
Wang Ning, 38-year-old founder of Pop Mart, ranked third with a wealth growth of 1.545 trillion yuan (a 562% surge), thanks to the global popularity of Labubu.
Ma Huateng took fourth place in wealth growth, with his fortune increasing by 1.5 trillion yuan. Last year, Tencent’s advertising revenue rose by 20%, domestic game business grew by 10%, WeChat Store’s GMV doubled to 1.92 times, and annual net profit jumped by 68%.
Furthermore, Chen Tianshi, 40-year-old founder of Cambricon, saw his wealth grow by 1.48 trillion yuan as the company accelerated the commercialization of AI chips, with rapid performance growth. Its stock price even surpassed Kweichow Moutai at one point in late August. Zeng Yuqun, 57, achieved a wealth increase of 1.3 trillion yuan, benefiting from sustained demand in the new energy vehicle market that drove a sharp surge in CATL’s stock price over the past year.