Hui Ka Yan, board chairman of Evergrande Group, surpassed Wu Yajun to become the richest real estate developer on the Chinese mainland this year, according to the World's Billionaire List 2012 published by Forbes earlier this month.

With a personal wealth of US$5.8 billion, Hui was closely trailed by Wu Yajun, president of Longfor Properties with a net worth of US$5.7 billion and Yang Huiyan, executive director of Country Garden, with a personal wealth of US$4.7 billion.

Amid government efforts to curb the runaway property prices, the total personal wealth of the top 10 tycoons also registered a much slower growth of 8.2 percent to US$33 billion, a sharp decrease from the 16.86 percent reported for the top ten on last year's list.

There are four women in this year's top 10, among which Yang Huiyan, who at the age of 31 is the youngest real estate tycoon on Chinese mainland and also the youngest billionaire on the 2012 Forbes Chinese Rich List.

Forbes, which began ranking the world's billionaires 25 years ago, counted an all-time high of 1,226 billionaires, worth a total record US$4.6 trillion this year. Their net worth was calculated in March 2012. The list shows that Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim was once more the richest man on the planet with a total wealth of US$69 billion.

Also read: Top 10 richest people in China 2012

Following are the top 10 richest people in real estate on Chinese mainland in 2012:

   Zhang Li (張力)

 Net worth 2012: US$1.6 bln; Net worth 2011: US$1.7 bln

World rank 2012: 804; World rank 2011: 736

Company: R&F Properties (富力地產集團)

Source of wealth: self-made

Age: 59

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