Despite escalating trade tensions with the U.S., China's stock markets still soared since last year's list of the Forbes world's billionaires.

The Hangseng Index rallied almost 20% as officials promised greater economic support,

while Deepseek's January release of a highly affordable AI model reignited investor interest in the country's

technology sector.

As a result, the collective fortune of Chinese billionaires on Forbes' 2025 ranking reached

$1.68 trillion, up 26 percent from $1.33 trillion a year ago, and also exceeding 2023's total of $1.67 trillion.

That optimism translated to a rising number of billionaires for the country.

This year there are 450 mainland Chinese members of the Three-coma club, up from 406 last year, but still well short of the

495 reached in 2023.

Mainland China accounts for the second largest number of billionaires globally, behind

the U.S., which has 902 billionaires.

While 23 billionaires from last year's list fell off, there are

31 newcomers in mainland China and 37 returnees, or members who made the list in the past,

fell off and have now returned to the ranks with a net worth of at least $1 billion.

One notable newcomer is DeepSeek founder Liang Wen Fang.

Liang, 40, has an estimated net worth of $1 billion based on his ownership in DeepSeek and

hedge fund High Flyer.

The 10 richest Chinese citizens, meanwhile, are worth a collective $400.5 billion, up from $304 billion

last year, and higher than the $311 billion reached in 2023.

Beverage giant Nang Fu Spring Chairman, Zhang Shan Chen, was China's richest person for four consecutive years, but is now at number two, and has a net worth of $57.5 billion, down from $62.3 billion in 2024.

Zhang seated the prime spot this year to bite dance founder Zhang Yaming. Now China's wealthiest person for the first time,

Zhang boosted his fortune by more than 50% over the past year,

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