Gome Appliances founder Huang Guangyu more than doubled his annual income last year to become China's richest businessman.

The home appliance tycoon earned an estimated $2.3bn, according to Forbes magazine.

Guangyu, 37, has benefited from China's rapid property boom.

Property developer Xu Rongmao is second on the Forbes list, with a net worth of $2.1bn.

Last year's richest businessman, Larry Rong Zhijian, slipped two places to third, with a personal fortune of nearly $2bn.

Zhijian is the boss of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CITIC Pacific.

Paper-recycling guru Zhang Yin, China's wealthiest woman, is fifth on the current list, with $1.5bn.

The combined net worth of the nation's richest 400 is $110bn, up 51 per cent on last year.

China, which has population of 1.3 billion, is the world's fourth-largest economy.

The country's economy grew by about 11 per cent in the first half of 2006 after expanding by 9.5 per cent last year, official figures show.

According to a recent GMI poll, China is also expected to overtake the US as the biggest economy globally by 2026.