BEIJING — More than half of the 20 richest self-made women in the world are Chinese, with their average fortune beating that of US talk show host Oprah Winfrey and author JK Rowling, a list showed Tuesday.
The three richest women on the planet are Chinese, led by paper-recycling queen Zhang Yin who has a personal fortune of 5.6 billion dollars, according to the Shanghai-based Hurun Report, which compiles data on wealthy individuals.
Of the 20 richest self-made female billionaires, 11 are Chinese with an average wealth of 2.6 billion dollars -- compared with Winfrey who ranked ninth on the list with 2.3 billion dollars, the report said.
JK Rowling, author of the wildly popular Harry Potter books, was at the bottom of the list, with one billion dollars.
"There is no other country that comes even close to touching the number of self-made women in China. They are now head and shoulders above any other country," said Rupert Hoogewerf, founder and compiler of the Hurun rich list.
The list includes three billionaires from the United States, three from Britain and one each from Italy, Russia and Spain.
The richest non-Chinese person on the list was Rosalia Mera of Spanish clothing store Zara with 3.5 billion dollars.
Hoogewerf partly attributed the success of Chinese women in business to the government's one-child policy and free childcare provided by many grandparents, which has enabled them to spend time building their empires.
"That makes a huge difference," Hoogewerf told AFP, adding that China's long acceptance of women working outside the home has been another significant factor in their success.
The richest person in China -- a man -- was Zong Qinghou, the founder of China's largest softdrinks maker Wahaha with a personal fortune of 12 billion dollars, the report said.
