On October 28, 2025, the Hurun Rich List for 2025 was announced. Zhong Shandan, the founder of “Nongfu Spring,” replaced Zhang Yiming, the founder of “ByteDance,” to become China’s richest person for the fourth time with a wealth of 530 billion yuan.
The Hurun Research Institute released the 2025 Hurun Rich List, with 1434 entrepreneurs with personal wealth of over 5 billion yuan making the list, totaling nearly 30 trillion yuan in wealth.
According to reports from mainland media, 71-year-old Zhong Shandan, the founder of “Nongfu Spring,” became China’s richest person for the fourth time with 530 billion yuan, setting a new record for the wealthiest person in China. Zhong Shandan’s wealth increased by 190 billion yuan compared to last year, a growth rate of 56%. The Hurun Research Institute stated that 80% of Zhong Shandan’s wealth comes from “Nongfu Spring.”
Zhang Yiming, the founder of “ByteDance,” ranked second with 470 billion yuan, losing the title of the richest person from last year; Ma Huateng, the founder of Tencent, remained in third place with 465 billion yuan; Zeng Yuqun from “CATL” ranked fourth with 330 billion yuan, rising 2 places; Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, ranked fifth with 326 billion yuan, marking his second entry into the top five in ten years since 2015.
Of note, Zhong Huijuan from “Hansoh Pharmaceutical” with a wealth of 141 billion yuan replaced Zhou Qunfei from Wahaha to become the richest woman in China, while Zhou Qunfei ranked 51st on the list with a wealth of 87.5 billion yuan.
Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing occupied the top three spots in “entrepreneurial density,” with Beijing being surpassed for the first time in over a decade by Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Shanghai topped the list with 152 individuals, an increase of 40 from last year. Shenzhen followed with 147 individuals, an increase of 39 from last year; Beijing ranked third with 146 individuals, an increase of 31 from last year. Hong Kong came in fourth with 99 individuals, an increase of 17 from last year; Hangzhou ranked fifth with 84 individuals, an increase of 16 from last year. Shanghai and Shenzhen saw the highest growth in the number of individuals on the list, mainly due to the recovery of A-shares and the concentration of industries such as semiconductors, biomedicine, gaming, and AI in these two cities.
In the past year, the industries that performed well included new energy vehicles, consumer electronics, new consumption, computing power, biomedicine, and securities services, all of which contributed significantly to the wealth of entrepreneurs. The real estate industry continued to decline, impacting entrepreneurs in the industry more significantly.
This year marks the 27th release of the Hurun Rich List by the Hurun Research Institute, with the wealth calculation cut-off date being September 1, 2025.