(Yicai Global) Dec. 10 -- Xu Jiayin, the 60-year-old chairman of property giant Evergrande Group, has surpassed e-commerce billionaire Jack Ma to become China's richest man.

With a personal wealth of USD36.7 billion, Xu ranked 20th globally as of Dec. 9, according to Forbes' real-time rankings, beating out the founder of Alibaba Group Holding and Pony Ma, the founder and chairman of Tencent Holdings.

Alibaba's Ma ranks 21st at USD35.4 billion, narrowly ahead of Tencent's chief, who is worth USD35.3 billion.

Recent gains in Evergrande's stock have boosted Xu's wealth. The Shenzhen-based real estate developer's shares [HKG:3333] climbed almost a third last month.