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Asia’s Richest Woman Loses Half Her Fortune in Property Crisis

Yang Huiyan, who became China’s wealthiest woman at age 25, is at risk of losing her top spot as Country Garden’s stock tumbles. 

A Country Garden residential development in Shanghai. 

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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To understand the magnitude of China’s escalating mortgage crisis, look no further than Yang Huiyan.

Heading into this year, the Country Garden Holdings Co. co-chairman was far and away Asia’s richest woman. Her $23.7 billion fortune easily eclipsed that of fellow Chinese billionaires Fan Hongwei and Wu Yajun, both worth around $13 billion at the time, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.