An online game entrepreneur, an appliance retailer and the head of a chain of home-improvement stores head China's rich list, according to the who's who of wealth compiled by the influential business magazine Forbes.

The rankings reflect the explosive growth of Chinese consumer spending, which lifted Internet and retailing fortunes above the traditional money-spinning occupations of trading and manufacturing.

Topping this year's list was Larry Yung, the Hong Kong-based boss of China's State-backed investment company CITIC Pacific Ltd. With an estimated worth of US$1.5 billion. He is one of the three billionaires on the list.

In second place is 35-year-old Wong Kwong Yu, also known as Huang Guangyu, whose Gome Appliances is China's biggest electronics retailer.

His net worth is estimated at US$1.3 billion.

Third is Chen Tianqiao, the founder of online games company Shanda Interactive Entertainment, worth US$1.27 billion. He rose from No 6 on the list last year, helped by the debut of his company's shares on the US NASDAQ market.

China reported nearly 100 million Internet users by the end of last year, half of them under 25 a huge and growing market for online games and other web-based services.

Other retailers in the top 10 include Du Sha, 56-year-old head of Home World Group, a do-it-yourself retail chain based in Tianjin, and Xu Rongmao, a Shanghai-based real estate and furniture mogul.

Du ranks 8th, with wealth estimated at US$530 million.

Xu, founder of the Shimao Group, is in 4th place with US$840 million.

William Ding Lei, founder of NASDAQ-listed Internet company Netease.com, slipped from the top of last year's list to No 6 as share prices sagged.

Forbes lists Ding's fortune at US$668 million, down from US$1.1 billion the year before.

Others on the list are Lu Guanqiu, founder of the Wanxiang Group, an auto parts company based in eastern China's Zhejiang Province. Lu, 59, is ranked 4th, with wealth estimated at US$774 million.

The list comes just days after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the government would further encourage private business and innovative entrepreneurs to help drive the country's development.

However, the Chinese mainland's growing status as home to the rich and powerful comes second to Hong Kong.

Chinese fortunes on the mainland pale by comparison with those of the wealthiest in the SAR.

Hong Kong's wealthiest tycoon also is the richest in all of Asia Li Ka-shing, the head of a global commercial and ports empire with a net worth of US$13 billion.

Source: China Daily