Younger China entrepreneurs making their presence felt

BEIJING - CHINA'S booming economy is spawning an increasingly diversified field of tycoons who hail far from traditional breeding grounds like the real estate and manufacturing sectors.

Among the 13 new mainland Chinese tycoons who made it to this year's Forbes billionaires list, one made her fortune recycling paper while another got rich on frozen dumplings.

Although 'old guard' like state-owned investment company Citic Pacific's Larry Yung still made a decent showing in the rankings, they are increasingly being crowded out by younger entrepreneurs who have successfully caught on to the changing economic times and opportunities in China.

Leading the field of 20 mainland Chinese billionaires identified by Forbes is Ms Cheung Yan, 49, or Ms Zhang Yin, as she is better known here.

In the mid-1980s, she ventured into an industry that was crucial and yet non-threatening to the Chinese authorities - paper.

China's booming exports needed lots of paper and cardboard, and Ms Zhang struck gold by recycling them in the United States and shipping the output to the mainland.

In 1995, she returned to the mainland and set up the Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Industries in southern China, which has since become the largest paper exporter in the world with more than five million tonnes shipped abroad annually.

The company was listed in Hong Kong last March, making Ms Zhang, her husband and younger brother instant billionaires. Forbes estimated her net worth at about US$2.4 billion (S$3.7 billion), making her the richest entrepreneur in China.

Likewise, 38-year-old Li Wei caught on to the needs of a fast-paced lifestyle in rapidly urbanising China.

He made millions by selling frozen food such as dumplings, buns and glutinous rice cakes.

The company he founded in the 1990s, Synear Food Holdings, is now one of the largest producers of frozen food in China.

Forbes estimated that he has a net worth of about US$1 billion.

But life at the top of the new entrepreneurial class is a fickle affair for many.

For instance, Internet entrepreneur Ding Lei, who was China's richest man in 2003, has been slipping in the rankings in recent years, no thanks to the lacklustre performance of his Nasdaq-listed company Netease.

The overall performance of the mainland Chinese billionaires is also modest when viewed in the global or regional context.

Their combined fortunes of about US$23.46 billion is less than half of the US$56 billion that Microsoft's Bill Gates is estimated to be worth.

China's richest billionaire, Ms Zhang, is also ranked lowly on the Forbes list, coming in at 390.

She is far behind the other top billionaires from Asia, such as the fifth-ranked Lakshmi Mittal of India, or Hong Kong's Mr Li Ka-shing.