Hong Kong's rich are getting richer again, as their fortunes begin to recover from the battering taken in the early months of the global financial crisis. The total net worth of the territory's 40 richest tycoons increased 65 per cent over the past year to $135bn, according to Forbes magazine.

Hong Kong is the only city in the world for which Forbes calculates an independent ranking, reflecting its ability to incubate and protect great wealth. “Hong Kong is a very remarkable place because of its close relationship with China and long-term relationship with the west,” said Russell Flannery, who oversees the list for Forbes.

Hong Kong is routinely ranked as “the world's freest economy” by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which admires the government's policy of taxing even very rich people at very low rates.