(CFP)

Li Yanhong, founder and CEO of Baidu Inc., a Chinese-language Internet search provider, has become the richest man on the Chinese mainland. According to the 2011 Forbes list of the wealthiest people in the world, Li has total assets of $9.4 billion and ranks 95th in the world. He is the first Chinese mainlander to be listed among the world's 100 richest people.

Li, 42, received a master's degree in computer science from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1994. After working at search engine pioneer Infoseek in Silicon Valley in the United States, he returned to China and founded Baidu in 1999. NASDAQ-listed Baidu has more than 70 percent of the Chinese market and is the third largest independent search engine in the world.

A total of 115 entrepreneurs on the mainland of China are on the list this year, while the number was 64 last year.