Hanergy Holdings Chairman Li Hejun has toppled Alibaba founder Jack Ma as China's richest man this year, the Hurun 2015 Global Rich List showed.

Li grew his personal wealth to US $26 billion last year, making him the richest person in a country of more than two billion people, while Ma slipped two spots to take the third place with a net worth of US $24.5 billion.

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Holding on to the second spot is Dalian Wanda Group's Wang Jianlin, whose personal wealth was registered at US $25 billion.

The Hurun 2015 Global Rich List said Li's personal wealth soared last year after a surge in shares of Hanergy Holding's Hong Kong-listed subsidiary, Hanergy Thin Film Power Group. The Hong Kong subsidiary rallied over 255 percent last year, the report said.

Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said Li becomes the twelfth Number One China has had in the past 16 years.

"That only shows the dynamism of the Chinese economy," said Hoogewerf, adding that in same period, Bill Gates has been the only Number One in the US

Li's Hanergy Holding Group is a multinational clean energy company as well as the world's largest thin-film solar power company. Established in 1994, the company is headquartered in Beijing and has more than 10,000 employees.

The company has branches in provinces all over China as well as in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Africa and other regions.

Being toppled as China's richest man, however, does not bother Jack Ma. In an earlier interview with CNBC, Ma, who is also the 34th richest man in the world, said being China's richest individuals was a "great pain".

"People say, 'Well Jack, rich people is good.' Yeah it is good, but not the richest man in China. It's a great pain because when you're (the) richest person in the world, everybody (is) surrounding you for money," he said told the CNBC.

Globally, Bill Gates continues to be the world's richest man with a net worth of US $85 billion, followed by Carlos Slim and Warrant Buffet.

TagsJack Ma, Li Hejun, hurun report, China's Richest Man