'Many things happened this year near China, does this mean that the Great Wall country will lose its status as the world's 2nd largest economy?'
The zero-Covid policy, the fall in the value of domestic and foreign stocks, the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war and the influence movement of President Xi Jinping contributed to the decline in wealth for many billionaires in China.
Looking at the Hurun Rich list which gathers billionaires with a minimum net worth of 5 billion Yuan ($692 million), there was an 11% decrease in individuals listed this year.
It is understood that the updated list shows there are 1,305 billionaires with a total wealth of $3.5 trillion, down almost 18% from last year.
In addition, the number of individuals who own $10 billion decreased by 29 from 56 people and overall Chinese billionaires were seen to shrink to 239 from 946 this year.
It was also outlined that the contraction factor occurred due to the gloomy economic prospects from the Covid restrictions that affected the country's growth and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war crisis.
President Xi's move to put oversight on tech companies to strengthen his influence in China has also dampened growth in stock values for the past few months.
Meanwhile, TikTok founder Zhang Yiming stole the spotlight when he ranked 2nd on the Hurun Rich list but his wealth dropped 28% to $35 billion.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma is in 9th place and Tencent founder Pony Ma is in 5th place with his wealth down $14.6 billion.
