What I learned from a Chinese billionaire

FORBES – In the last decade more new billionaires emerged in China than anywhere else in the world. There are now at least 79 Chinese billionaires. China's rich are fueling the country's 15 percent annual growth in luxury sales, which have reached $9 billion a year, making the country the world's second largest market for top-end products. You can wait a year for a new Ferrari in China. Porsche launched its Panamera sedan there before it did so in the U.S. Long lines often stretch outside Louis Vuitton and Hermès stores.

Who are the superrich Chinese? What are they like? How did they get so wealthy?

To find answers to those questions I've talked to a half dozen Chinese billionaires. Some of them made their money by taking Internet companies public in the U.S., others by investing in real estate or beverages. Unlike many of today's American billionaires, such as the Rockefellers or the Waltons of Wal-Mart, China's are almost all self-made. Half of the world's 14 self-made billionaire women are Chinese. They all overcame hardship and failure, and they all are highly optimistic about China's future.

One Chinese billionaire, a real estate mogul, met with me more than a dozen times over five years to share his lessons for succeeding in business. Sometimes we met at his palatial home in Beijing, sometimes at my much smaller one in Shanghai. We ate clams the size of footballs on a beach in Australia, and one time we went to McDonald's for french fries. I liked spending time with him not only because I could briefly live the life of a billionaire but also because it became obvious why he was so successful. He actually embodied the lessons he taught me. He didn't just preach them.

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