Jack Ma

Jack Ma is one of China's richest men and his comments last week brought both condemnation and support as China's more mature economy enters a period of slower growth.

Addressing the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here, the Alibaba executive chairman also told business leaders never to worry about competition and pressure.

Each of their stories inspires one to accept no's and let failures not break one's determination to stay on the course

The People's Daily revealed Ma's Party membership in a list of 100 people it said had helped drive the country "reform and opening up" process. Ma is China's richest man with a fortune of $35.8 billion, according to Forbes.

Ma made the comments at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) held in Shanghai.

Ma, 54, who last month made surprise announcement of his retirement as the executive chairman of the USD 420 billion e-commerce giant, has pipped Chinese property mogul Xu Jiayin.

The economic situation is not good, and that could last for a long time, Ma said at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin.

The economic situation is not good, and that could last for a long time, Ma said at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin.

Ma had met US President Donald Trump two years ago and laid out the Chinese e-commerce giant's plan to bring one million small US businesses onto its platform to sell to Chinese consumers over the next five years.

Ma was speaking at an Alibaba investor conference hours after Washington said it would impose duties on an extra $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, drawing a warning from Beijing that it would retaliate.

On Monday, Ma named the company's Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang as his successor who would take charge in September next year, while he would continue to be company's Director.

Ma will "unveil a succession strategy" on Monday, his 54th birthday, but remain the company's executive chairman for the foreseeable future.

The founder of the online shopping giant, Jack Ma, met with Thailand's prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, on Thursday and signed an agreement to help set up a "smart digital hub" to facilitate trade between Thailand, China, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam.

In an apparent criticism of US President Donald Trump's moves to slap tariffs on Chinese goods to pressure Beijing to reduce USD 375 billion trade deficit in the bilateral trade, he said "You are not solving the problem of the cold, you are destroying the whole body, the whole system".

Ma made the comments at an event in Hong Kong on Monday, an Alibaba spokeswoman said. His comments, which follow Hong Kong's decision to allow dual class share listings, were first reported by the South China Morning Post.

The presence of the world's leading e-commerce player at the WTO is significant as member countries are divided over the way the issue should be handled by the multilateral trade body.

The movie, 'Gong Shou Dao' (The Art of Attack and Defence) will be released on November 11, and is aiming to promote tai chi, China's ancient martial art form

The Hurun Report, the best-known list of China's wealthiest people, estimated that wealth held by Xu, founder of developer Evergrande, surged to USD 43 billion, moving him up nine places from last year.Pony Ma of Internet company Tencent,came second with USD 37 billion in wealth and Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, third with USD 30 billion

The goal of artificial intelligence should be making machines that do things humans cannot do, rather than making them like humans, according to Ma.

The billionaire Chinese businessman sat down with CNBC this week at the Gateway '17 conference in Detroit for a wide-ranging interview on those topics and others. Here are the highlights: