A total of 213 Chinese billionaires have joined in this year's list of the world's richest people published by the prestigious Forbes magazine.

China accounts for 213 of the total 1,826 billionaires, or those whose net worth is US$1 billion or more, Forbes said in a statement accompanying the release of the list on Monday.

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The United States continues to have the most billionaires in the list with 536 while Germany and India took the third and fourth spots with 103 and 90 billionaires, respectively.

Wang Jianlin, president of China's biggest property developer Dalian Wanda Group, has been ranked as China's wealthiest person and occupies the 29^th rank in the world with his fortune of US$ 24.2 billion.

Jack Ma, who was China's richest for a short period of time, is now the country's second-richest person, Forbes said.

Ma's personal wealth reached US$ 22.7 billion, thanks to this e-commerce empire, Alibaba Group.

Hanergy Chairman and CEO Li Hejun was named China's third-richest person with a net worth of about US$ 21.1 billion.

This year's Forbes list of world billionaires is still dominated by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who has been the world's richest man for the past 16 years.

Gates' net worth rose to US$ 79.2 billion from US$ 76 billion a year earlier, Forbes said.

Trailing Gates were Mexico telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu, which ranked second with a net worth of US$ 77.1 billion, and Berkshire Hathaway Inc chief Warren Buffett, at third place, with his US$ 72.7 billion fortune.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg rose to 16th place from 21st last year with his net worth growing to US$ 33.4 billion.

A notable newcomer in the list of the world's billionaire is NBA superstar Michael Jordan, who ranked 1,741st with a US$ 1 billion net worth.

This year, Forbes identified a record 1,826 billionaires around the world, a rise from last year's 1,645.

The world's billionaires have a combined US$ 7.05 trillion fortune.

TagsForbes, Forbes Billionaires, China's Richest Persons