The credit crunch and financial crisis have more than halved the combined wealth of China's richest people, according to Forbes magazine's latest annual Chinese billionaires list.
The ranking illustrates how fortunes have risen and fallen over the past tumultuous year as the net worth of mainland China's 40 richest people fell 57% to $52 billion from $120 billion, Forbes Asia said.
Coming out on top was Shanghai-based agricultural feed tycoon Liu Yongxin with a net worth of $3 billion.
20 billionaires, however, including paper recycling queen Yan Cheung - once ranked as China's richest person - have dropped off the list entirely.
Cheung's company, Nine Dragons Paper, has lost 95% of its peak value and her net worth is now estimated at $295m.
Last year's number one, 27-year-old property heiress Yang Huiyan, saw $14 billion wiped off of her fortune, in part due to ill-timed acquisitions. She fell to number three on this year's list with $2.22 billion.
Number two on the list, with $2.7 billion, is Huang Guangyu, founder of Gome, China's largest chain of consumer electronics stores. Huang, a native of south China's Guangdong province, moved up eight spots from last year.
Liu, this year's number one, started building his fortune in 1982 when he and his three brothers used $120 to start raising quails and chickens.
They split up the business in 1995 and are now China's only family of billionaires. Liu moved to Shanghai, where his East Hope Group is one of China's biggest feed companies. He also owns aluminium smelters.
At 60, Liu is well above the list's average age of 49 - eight of the billionaires on the list are under the age of 40.
Among them is 37-year-old Internet entrepreneur William Ding Lei, once China's richest man, who was among 10 billionaires who returned to the list after dropping off in past years.
Lei's online gaming company Netease saw its profits rise 40% in the second quarter and his flagship game 'Fantasy Westward Journey' is one of China's top 10 downloads.
He signed a three-year contract with US game developer Blizzard Entertainment to distribute 'StarCraft 2' and 'Battle.net' on the mainland.
The highest ranked newcomer on the list is Zhou Chengjian, at number five with a net worth of $2 billion. Zhou, 43, created the fashion brand and retail chain Metersbonwe, which now has 2,200 stores across China.
