Chairman Mao Zedong is often quoted for saying "women hold up half the sky" but going by Hurun Report's latest survey, the world's second largest economy accounts for 49 self-made billionaire women out of 73 in the world.

According to the Hurun Report, the 45-year-old "touchscreen queen" Zhou Qunfei stood at No 1 with $7.8 billion (€7.1bn). Hailing from a hardscrabble farming background in Hunan province in central China, Zhou is the founder of Lens Technology, a major supplier of the ultra-thin cover glass used in laptops, tablets and mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy.

She just beat Beijing real estate mogul Chen Lihua (74) with $7.7 billion (€7bn) to become the most successful business woman in the world.

According to Hurun, eight of the top 10 richest self-made women in the world are from China.

The Hurun findings are borne out by the latest UBS/PwC Billionaire report, which shows that “women have been controlling greater average wealth than men and becoming more influential in family businesses, philanthropic enterprises and governance”.

The UBS/PwC report showed that the number of female billionaires grew by a factor 6.6 from 1995 to 2014, and the number of men by a factor of 5.2. "While most female billionaires come from the US and Europe, Asia has the greatest growth in number of self-made female billionaires. Over 80 per cent of female billionaires are coming from the US and Europe. More than 50 per cent of Asian female billionaires are self-made, compared to 19 per cent in the US and 7 per cent in Europe."