Ten well-known business leaders from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and the US were honored as 2012's "Top Chinese Businesspeople" at a ceremony organized by Ifeng.com, the 21st Century Business Herald, the ‘Voice of Economy' program of China National Radio and Zhejiang TV at Beijing's National Aquatics center. Themed "Next Decade, A Better Future," the event was packed with heavy hitters from the business world as well and well-covered by the national media.

This year's awards went to representatives from a variety of industries including health care, home appliances, mobile telecommunications, software and not-for-profit organizations.

Honorees were selected by a large committee of netizens, industry experts and media personalities. Selection was based on four aspects: Global Perspective, Times Insight, Industry Vision and strength of their ‘Chinese Values'. 40 leaders have received the committee's honor since 2009.

The following are this year's "Top Chinese Businesspeople" honorees:

  Dong Mingzhu   董明珠

Company:Zhuhai Gree Electric Appliances Inc. (珠海格力電器股份有限公司)

Headquarters:Guangdong

Main focus:Household appliance

Title:President and vice-chairwoman

Age:57

When Dong Mingzhu started working at Gree in 1990, she was just a salesman, and Gree was only a local company. During the last 20 years, Dong rose from salesman to sales manager, eventually becoming sales director, general manager, and finally president and vice-chairman. The company is now one of the largest household appliances makers in China, and the largest manufacturer of residential air conditioning units in the world.

In 1996, Gree was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. In 2010, the company achieved sales revenues of 60.8 billion yuan (US$9.58 billion), and by the first half of this year, its turnover has reached 40.2 billion yuan (US$6.33 billion).