Chen Jinxia (陳金霞)

Age: 43

2011 net worth (US$): 1.02 billion

2010 net worth (US$): 1.24 billion

General ranking: 129

Company: Yongjin Group

Headquarters: Shanghai

Main focus: Investment

Chen Jinxia, 43, once worked as an accountant at several trust and investment companies. When her husband, the tycoon Wei Dong, died in 2008, she inherited his stakes in the well-established financial consultant Yongjin Group, which Wei founded. Chen also took over Wei's shares in an array of publicly-listed famous companies, including Jiuzhitang, Zhuzhou Qianjin and Xinjiang Guanghui Industry.

Chen, who graduated from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, once acted as the right arm of her husband in his transactions and stock trades. Like her husband, who shunned publicity when he was alive, Chen keeps a low-key style and has never accepted media interviews or delivered speeches for any public occasion.