5 Chinese billionaires who pulled their wealth out of China – from spicy hotpot billionaire Zhang Yong to recycling entrepreneur Zhang Yin

If you had billions, you would think life would be pretty sweet wherever you happened to be. But billionaires always seem to be on the lookout for greener pastures.

More than a third of ultra-high-net-worth Chinese are considering moving abroad, according to a survey by the Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute. That would mean a lot of money leaving China.

In 2019, China had 658 billionaires, with 584 in the United States, according to Hurun’s Global Rich List. Despite the trade war, more new billionaires were made in China than in the US in the past 12 months.

“A boom in tech valuations and strong stock markets across the US, India and China has propelled the number of billionaires to record heights [in 2020],” said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher. “China today has more billionaires than the US and India combined.”

Today, the US has 626 billionaires, while China added 182 new faces to hit 799 billionaires – three times the number of new faces in the US. There were also some dropouts.

But in 2014, a Barclays Wealth Report found that around half of China's rich intended to move to another country within five years. Given that it’s been six years since that report, here are five incredibly wealthy people who have left the country – and where they went instead.

1) Singapore

Zhang Yong, the founder of Sichuan hotpot chain Haidilao, became a Singaporean citizen last year to claim top spot on the 2019 Singapore’s 50 Richest List, published by Forbes Asia.

However, things could soon change. His wealth rose to US$16 billion after his company’s HK$7.6 billion (US$963 million) initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong in September 2018. But the share price has dropped significantly since the coronavirus outbreak.

2) Australia