China Daily reported that Mr Wang Chuanfu chairman of electric car and battery maker BYD Co Ltd in which US billionaire Mr Warren Buffett holds a stake topped the Forbes China rich list with Mr Liu Yongxing and Mr Zong Qinghou behind him.

Sina.com said Mr Wang who ranked 23rd on the list last year saw his fortune increase by nearly five times from USD 1.06 billion 12 months ago to the current USD 5.8 billion.

It said Mr Liu Yongxing the 61 year old president of agricultural feed company East Hope Group saw his fortune increase by USD 2.5 billion to USD 5.5 billion, putting him just behind Wang on the list. He created the company along with his three brothers which became one of the most successful in China agricultural feed industry. He is yet to be listed East Hope Group is now focusing on heavy industries.

According to Sina.com Wahaha multimillionaire founder and chairman Mr Zong Qinghou was in third place with USD 4.8 billion. Mr Zong fortune was USD 1.3 billion last year

The website said thanks to the active trading of China stock market, the global financial crisis had little impact on the first 40 billionaires on the list. Instead, their fortunes doubled from USD 52 billion to USD 106 billion in the past year.

(Sourced from chinadaily.com.cn)