7. Yang Huiyan

•  Net Worth: $7.2 B                                                                      
•  Source of Wealth: real estate
•  Citizen: China
•  Age: 32

A 94% rise in sales at real estate developer Country Garden has lifted the fortune of China's richest woman, Yang Huiyan. Yang, the vice chairman, was given her father's stake in Country Garden before the company's IPO in 2007, the same year that she topped FORBES list of China's richest with a net worth of $16 billion. Buoyant residential property sales have lifted Country Garden's Hong Kong- traded shares 75% in the past 12 months.