Huaxi Village (simplified Chinese: 华西新市村; traditional Chinese: 華西新市村; pinyin: Huáxī xīnshì cūn), located in the east of the city centre of Jiangyin, in Jiangsu Province, claims to be the richest village in China.
The village has a multi-sector industry company that is listed on the stock exchange, has bought airplanes and plans to buy ships.
Wu Renbao (simplified Chinese: 吴仁宝; traditional Chinese: 吳仁寶; pinyin: wú rénbǎo), the former secretary of Huaxi Village Communist Party Committee, developed a plan to turn what used to be a poor rural locality into a modern rich community.
[6] In a study conducted by Zhou Yi in 2004, it was found that over 90% of the village's total wealth is controlled solely by the four sons of Wu Renbao.
[8] In February of 2021, media outlets began reporting on the possible decline of the village, with some stating that the Huaxi Group had lost between 390 million RMB (60,441,000 USD) to 435 million RMB (67,381,500 USD)[6] which resulted in the dividends system shrinking from 30% of company profits to just 0.5%.