THE CHINESE economy may be slowing noticeably, but the ranks of the ultra-rich continue to swell.

One out of every 1,300 people in China has a million yuan (€127,000) or more, according to the latest edition of the Hurun Report on wealth in China, as the number of yuan multimillionaires reached 1.02 million at the end of 2011.

And the report showed how Chinese individuals with more than 10 million yuan (€1.27 million) broke through the one million mark for the first time, up 6.3 per cent on 2011.

There are 63,500 super-rich people, defined as people with 100 million yuan (€12.7 million) or more, an increase of 5.8 per cent from last year.

“As China is set to become the world’s biggest market for luxury, it is critical to understand the Chinese luxury consumer,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report.

Hurun conducted face-to-face interviews with 503 Chinese people who have a million yuan or more, including 54 billionaires. The report focuses on China’s mainland tycoons, and does not include Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

In terms of geographical spread, Beijing has the biggest number of wealthy people, with 179,000 millionaires and 10,500 super-rich, followed by Guangdong province in the south, with 167,000 millionaires and 9,500 super-rich.

In third place is Shanghai, which is home to 140,000 millionaires and 8,200 of the super-rich.

The main driver in the wealth stakes has been rising property prices and overall economic growth. Last year, China’s GDP grew by 9.2 per cent, although that is expected to slow this year to more than 8 per cent.

According to the report, Chinese millionaires tend to spend most of their money on travel – something for Irish companies to take note of.

In terms of destinations, Sanya, in Hainan province, Hong Kong and Yunnan province are the top three places where they go in China, while France continues to be the most popular international destination, followed by the United States and Australia.

The wealthy are becoming more discreet in their spending, and they are spending more on education, especially overseas schooling.

Those with more than a million yuan preferred to put their money into property, with growing interest in fixed income and stock investments, the report showed.