Check out China’s 8 richest tech entrepreneurs right now

The annual Hurun rich list weighs up the bank balances of China’s leading businesspeople. The new list for 2013 is now out, revealing rising fortunes for the nation’s elite. The richest of all is Wanda boss Zong Qinghou, worth $22 billion.

China’s tech billionaires are not too far down the list. Indeed, the number of IT billionaires increased by 20 percent this year and their average wealth went up by 51 percent to $1.7 billion. Top of the heap of gold coins is Pony Ma, founder of Tencent, which makes smash-hit social media services like QQ and WeChat. He overtook Robin Li, from top search engine Baidu, in this year’s list.

Check out some more familiar names in our top eight among China’s richest techies:

• 1st: Pony Ma, founder and CEO of Tencent (HKG:0700); third overall in China. Worth $10.1 billion.

• 2nd: Robin Li, founder and CEO of Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU); sixth overall. Worth $8.1 billion.

• 3rd: Zhang Jindong, founder of Suning (SHE:002024); ninth overall. Worth $6.4 billion. Yes, Suning is primarily a brick-and-mortar electronics retailer, but it’s increasingly a big-hitter in e-commerce too.

• 4th: Jiang Bin, founder of Goertek; 10th overall. Worth $6.1 billion. The firm is an electronics component supplier that counts Apple among its customers.

• 5th: Ding Lei, Netease (NASDAQ:NTES); 25th overall. Worth $4.2 billion. One of China’s top web portals, as well as a big name in online gaming.

• 6th: Jack Ma, Alibaba founder, ex-CEO, and chariman; 29th overall. Worth $4.05 billion. But Mr. Ma might well rocket up 2014’s list after a much anticipated IPO for the e-commerce company sometime later this year.

• 7th: Zhang Zhidong, CTO at Tencent; 37th overall. Worth $3.4 billion.

• 8th: Jia Yueting, founder of LeTV; 44th overall. Worth $3 billion. LeTV is now one of China’s fastest growing video steaming sites thanks to good mobile apps and a smart TV OS and smart TV models.

(Hat-tip to WantChinaTimes for spotting this)