Baku, April 22, AZERTAC 
A rally in stock prices to seven-year highs in mainland China has lifted the number of Chinese billionaires and billionaire families to a record 400, according to estimates by Forbes.
That’s an increase from the then-record 242 that we identified on the Forbes China Rich List published last October, and adds to the country’s standing as home to one of the largest collections of rich individuals.
The continuing explosion of wealth in the world’s most populous nation is tied to pro-growth economic policies as well as stock market reforms that have made the one-time Maoist country’s capital market more closely resemble Western capitalist countries, including expansion of the role of venture capital firms. China’s stock exchanges are among the world’s largest; it also is a world leader in IPOs.
The highest-ranking new billionaire among the 400 that didn’t make the 2015 Forbes Billionaires List is also the world’s richest woman in the technology business, Zhou Qunfei, CEO of Apple supplier Lens Technology, who has an estimated fortune of $10.2 billion. The top three richest in the mainland are renewable energy billionaire Li Hejun, chairman of Hanergy Group, with a fortune worth $31.3 billion, real estate tycoon Wang Jianlin of Wanda Group, with a fortune worth $29.6 billion, and Jack Ma, chairman of e-commerce leader Alibaba, which as estimated fortune worth $23.4 billion.