Forbes magazine's Chinese website recently unveiled the 2014 China Rich List with Internet tycoons dominating the top spots. Yu Fenghui, a financial commentator, wrote in The Beijing News that the Chinese economy has become increasingly reliant on technological progress. Excerpts of Yu's views follow:

Ma Yun, founder and Executive Chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba, topped Forbes' China Rich List for the first time. Ma's net worth soared to $19.5 billion in 2014, up from $7.1 billion last year, when he was ranked eighth, after his company raised almost $22 billion in the largest U.S. initial public offering in history in September.  

Closely following Ma was Li Yanhong, founder of China's largest Internet search engine Baidu, and Ma Huateng, founder and CEO of Chinese Internet giant Tencent. Five of the top 10 richest Chinese are from the Internet industry. The other two are Lei Jun, CEO of electronics firm Xiaomi, China's most popular smartphone maker, and Liu Qiangdong, CEO of JD.com, China's second largest e-commerce firm.

In sharp contrast, billionaires in the real estate sector had a more challenging year amid a prolonged property slowdown. Last year's richest tycoon, Wang Jianlin, Chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, fell three places to the fourth position.

The fortunes of Chinese web entrepreneurs are starting to surpass those of U.S. tech icons like Paul Allen, Eric Schmidt, Jerry Yang and Sheryl Sandberg. This is telling us that China will compete with, if not surpass, the United States for the lion's share of new wealth to be made in an era when e-commerce and mobile services will become a lot more pervasive.  

With the Chinese Government's encouragement, China's e-commerce and mobile Internet can surpass that of the United States and become an engine for the country's technological innovation. As China reshapes its economy to become less driven by exports and investments and more driven by domestic consumption, Internet companies will play an increasing role in unleashing domestic demand amid a worrying economic slowdown.

The most urgent task is making the economy more driven by technological innovation and domestic consumption. In the past years, the Chinese economy was over-reliant on exports and energy resources, sometimes at the expense of the environment. Rampant property development led to speculative activities in the sector. A growth pattern largely driven by government spending and loose monetary policies cannot be sustained. The good news is that the huge success of Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent, China's three leading Internet companies, has offered the country a chance to transform its economy to be as much driven by technological innovation as it is in the United States.

Internet finance in China, which has its roots in the larger Internet economy, has surpassed that in the United States, which has the world's most advanced financial sector. It has become a major force in lowering financing costs for small and micro businesses and pushing forward reforms in China's rigid financial system and traditional financial institutions.

The Chinese economy is on the right track to become more driven by technological innovations, as evidenced by real estate tycoons' rankings falling in the list. This has sent a positive signal to society at large that the Chinese economy has become increasingly reliant on technological progress and social wealth is flowing toward technology- and innovation-oriented businesses and individuals. This will encourage more talented people to flock to innovation-driven businesses and industries instead of speculating in the property sector.

China's Internet companies are all private businesses, indicating the vital potential of the private sector. The Chinese Government is correct in its dedication to unleash the intrinsic growth momentum of private capital by substantially lowering the threshold for business startups, simplifying administrative procedures and delegating power to lower government levels. In the future, reforms should be pushed forward with further regulation of governmental functions. The government should refrain from too much intervention in the market. CA