中国富豪榜 (zhong guo fu hao bang): China Billionaires Index

According to Bloomberg News' China Billionaires Index published in August, Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma, Tencent founder Ma Huateng and Baidu founder Robin Li are the richest people on the Chinese mainland and all three are from the Internet industry.

This is the first time that BAT (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, the biggest three Internet companies in China) has taken the first three spots on the list, which indicates the fast growth of the Internet industry in the country.

China's richest list shows the effects of the macro economy. Real estate developers dominated the list since the global financial crisis thanks to easy access to credit owing to the government's 4-trillion-yuan stimulation package in November 2008.

Market liquidity, however, was short-lived because China soon adopted a prudent monetary policy. In contrast, sectors in which the government rarely intervened during their formative years, such as the Internet industry, have registered impressive growth. Perhaps the government needs to loosen its grip on more economic sectors to let them develop freely.

Compared with the wide range of industries in other countries' rich people's list, China's wealthiest entrepreneurs are concentrated in one or two sectors, indicating the lack of diversification in the Chinese economy. It has become very difficult for entrepreneurs from the manufacturing industry, which has encountered obstacles such as high loan interest rate and rising labor cost, to make it to the list. In a healthy economy, however, prosperity spreads across several industries, not just one or two.