Shares of Marriott and Starwood climbed in U.S. trading after China s richest man Wang Jianlin said he has hired two investment banks to buy hotel management companies.

　　The 2013 edition of the Forbes China Rich List published recently identifies a record 168 billionaires from the country, surpassing the previous high of 146 in 2011 and last year’s total of 113. The increase adds to China’s standing as a country with one of the world’s fastest-growing number of billionaires in the past decade.

　　Real estate tycoon Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, ascends to the No. 1 spot from No. 3 with a fortune worth $14.1 billion, an increase from $8 billion year, amid a recovery in the country’s real estate market. Underscoring his wish to make a mark in the global entertainment industry, Wang in September flew in Leonardo Dicaprio, Nicole Kidman and other international movie stars to the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao for the launch of a $8 billion mini-Hollywood complex.

　　Reports surfaced that his Dalian Wanda Group intends to spend over $1 billion on a luxury hotel and development project in London. Wang also told the media that Wanda plans to announce details on a luxury hotel project in New York City later this year, with Wanda-branded luxury hotels expected to debut in as many as 10 world cities over the coming decade.

　　Shares of Marriott International Inc. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. climbed in U.S. trading after Wang said he has hired two investment banks to buy hotel management companies.

　　Wang’s $14.1 billion of wealth was the largest for a No. 1 on our list since 2007 when Yan Huiyan, holding the fortune of her real estate developer dad Yeung Kwok Yeung, topped that list at $16.2 billion. Yang, who is vice chairman of the family’s Hong Kong-listed Country Garden, has a fortune worth $7.2 billion this year, and ranked as China’s richest women. The increases in Wang’s and Yang’s fortunes are part of a 35% surge in wealth for the country’s 400 richest from a year ago to $570 billion. The wealth of the top 100 soared by 44% to 316 billion.

　　China has in recent years become home to the world’s largest number of mobile phone and Internet users, and the Internet has produced some of the biggest increases in fortunes on the top 100. China’s three kings of the Internet — No. 3 Robin Li, CEO of Baidu Baidu, No. 5 Ma Huateng , CEO of Tencent, and No. 7 Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group — all enjoyed huge gains in their fortune in a year in which each moved aggressively to build on past success and head off rivals.

　　China today is also the world’s biggest auto market, and eight members of the top 100 with ties to the industry enjoyed wealth gains, led by Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motor, who ranked No. 6 with a fortune worth $9 billion. In a year in which pollution often dominated China’s headlines, the highest-ranking newcomer on this year’s list with an estimated fortune worth $10.9 billion, fittingly, is renewable energy entrepreneur Li Hejun of Hanergy Holding of Beijing.

　　The city where you are most likely to cross paths with a member of the Forbes China Rich List is Beijing with 58 members, followed by Shanghai with 37.