BEIJING, Mar 11 (AP) -- Cashing in on China's consumer boom, a 31-year-old online game entrepreneur, an appliance retailer and the head of a chain of home-improvement stores were among the country's richest tycoons in 2004, according to a list released Friday by Forbes magazine.

The rankings reflected the explosive growth of Chinese consumer spending, which lifted Internet and retailing fortunes on a list dominated in the past by trading and manufacturing.

Topping this year's list was Larry Yung, the Hong Kong-based boss of China's state-backed investment company CITIC Pacific Ltd. With an estimated worth of US$1.5 billion (€1.1 billion), he was one of three billionaires on the list.

In second place was 35-year-old Wong Kwong Yu, also known as Huang Guangyu, whose GoMe Appliances is China's biggest electronics retailer. His net worth is estimated at US$1.3 billion (€968 million).

Third was Chen Tianqiao, the founder of online games company Shanda Interactive Entertainment, worth US$1.27 billion (€946 million). He rose from No. 6 on the list last year, helped by the debut of his company's shares on the U.S. Nasdaq market.

China reported nearly 100 million Internet users by the end of last year, half of them under 25 -- a huge and growing market for online games and other Web-based services.

Other retailers in the top 10 included Du Sha, 56-year-old head of Home World Group, a do-it-yourself retail chain based in Tianjin, an hour's drive southeast of Beijing, and Xu Rongmao, a Shanghai-based real estate and furniture mogul.

Du ranked 8th, with wealth estimated at US$530 million (€395 million).

Xu, founder of the Shimao Group, was in fourth place with US$840 million (€626 million).

William Ding Lei, founder of Nasdaq-listed Internet company Netease.com, slipped from the top of last year's list to No. 6 as share prices sagged.

Forbes listed Ding's fortune at US$668 million (€498 million), down from US$1.1 billion (€819 million) the year before.

Others on the list were Lu Guanqiu, founder of the Wanxiang Group, an auto parts company based in eastern China's Zhejiang province. Lu, 59, was ranked fourth, with wealth estimated at US$774 million (€577 million).

Still, mainland Chinese fortunes pale by comparison with those of the wealthiest in the former British colony of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's wealthiest tycoon also is the richest in all of Asia -- Li Ka-shing, the head of a global commercial and ports empire with a net worth of US$13 billion (€9.7 billion).