China is now home to 358 dollar billionaires, 41 more than last year, according to the Global Rich List 2014 published by Hurun Report on Tuesday. It is second only to the United States, which has 481 billionaires, 72 up from last year.
Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong-based business tycoon, retained his spot as Asia’s richest man with a fortune of 200 billion yuan ($33.3 billion). Li is the world's 12th richest man. Wang Jianlin, chairman of the Dalian Wanda Group and Lui Che Wo, chairman of K. Wah Group and owner of Galaxy Entertainment, took second and third place.
Globally, the number of billionaires has grown by 28.5 percent to a record high of 1,867 moneybags owning a combined fortune nearly $7 trillion, more than the GDP of Japan. Nearly one in four billionaires is of Chinese origin (though not necessarily nationality).
Technology overtook real estate as the biggest source of wealth worldwide, although it remains the biggest money maker in China, with a 26.7 percent share of the billionaire pool. Seven out of the top ten property developers in the world are from China.
New York topped the list as ‘billionaire capital of the world’, beating Moscow, Hong Kong, Beijing and London.
China’s growing population of fat cats aren't necessarily satisfied with staying in China. A report this month showed how tens of thousands of millionaires from China inundated Canada’s investor immigrant program, forcing it to be suspended.
Now, the UK program seems to have attracted attention. The British ‘investor’ visa scheme allowed successful applicants to live in the UK in return for a minimum 10.2 million yuan ($1.67 million) investment in government bonds. It does not grant applicants a UK passport, however.
In the last five years, 419 super-wealthy Chinese used the scheme and have won the right to live in Britain.
Professor Sir David Metcalf, chairman of the UK Home Office’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), said the cost was so low the government was effectively “giving away” visas to some of the world’s wealthiest people.
“The present system, it seems, is designed to minimise the gains to UK residents and maximise the gains to the migrants”, he said. A MAC report commissioned by the government proposed reforms which would effectively double the sum required for an investor visa.
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