Chinese Corporate Strength Grows

The number of Chinese companies that made it into the 2011 Fortune Global 500 rose to 69 (61 on the mainland and eight in Taiwan), second only to the U.S, which is the top contributor with 133 companies. China's presence on the scroll has expanded for the eighth year in a row. But still its private sector is underrepresented, with only two names in this year's batch – Huawei Technologies (ranked 351) and Jiangsu Shagang Group (366). In the top spot is American retailing giant Wal-Mart, which held the same position last year. Fortune magazine compiles and publishes the Global 500 list annually, and candidate corporations are ranked by their revenues. The bar for entry was set at US $19.5 billion this year, compared with US $17.1 billion in 2010.