By Hong Soon-do, Beijing correspondent, AsiaToday - Wealthy Chinese may top the world's rich list by 2020, and perhaps richer than Bill Gates.

According to the May 17th report of China's Southern Metropolis Daily, such prediction was made by Hurun, founder of the Hurun Rich List. At an event hosted by finance startup Kung Fu Finance in celebration of its first broadcast on Youku on the 16th, Hurun confidently predicted, "If the number of billionaires in China increases at the current pace, the richest man in China will also become the world's richest by 2020." He emphasized, "The volume of individual asset in China is growing at the fastest pace in its history of 5,000 years. China has beaten the United States in the number of billionaires for the first time last year, which is a critical point for Chinese entrepreneurs. The rich list will change in the next five years."

Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba group and Wang Jianlin, Chairman of the DalianWanda Group./ Source: Southern Metropolis Daily

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Then who may overtake Bill Gates, who is likely to maintain his position as the world's richest over the next 4-5 years? Hurun has chosen Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba group. At the moment, Jack Ma is the third wealthiest man in China, but he is expected to increase his property further and catch up Bill Gates.

Another candidate is Pony Ma, Chairman of Tencent Holdings. Other potential rivals on the list include Lei Jun, Chairman of Xiaomi, and Wang Jianlin, Chairman of the Dalian Wanda Group.

However, it seems Hurun has overlooked the fact that the Chinese economy is one of the volatile emerging markets. In other words, he has ignored the reality of the Chinese market, where a top company could disappear one day. In fact, many Chinese firms that once used to be top ones, disappeared without any notice. There were several reasons, but one of main reasons was due to their weakness to propagate in the wild as most of them grew through either monopolistic governance of the market or speculation rather than one's own technology or innovative spirit. Unless this market structure doesn't break down, Hurun's prediction may be way off calculation.