"The rich in China have strong incentive to become 'within system' due to the relative weakness in the rule of law and of property rights," Victor Shih, a professor at Evanston, Illinois-based Northwestern University who studies Chinese politics and finance, wrote in an e-mail. Being a member of the NPC "means that one's commercial or political rival cannot easily throw one in jail or confiscate one's property."
Wu, who is China's richest woman, doesn't give media interviews, her spokeswoman said. Lu wasn't available for an interview, his spokesman said. Zong wouldn't comment on the makeup of the NPC because that's a matter determined by the central government, Wahaha spokesman Shan Qining said in a phone interview.
Many of the NPC's richest members, including Longfor's Wu, are executives in real estate, a sector that has spurred protests and contributed to the rising wealth gap between city dwellers and farmers.
A land grab by a property developer in Wukan, a fishing town in southern China's Guangdong province, sparked protests in December that resulted in the expulsion of its Communist Party leaders. Premier Wen Jiabao has pledged to crack down on such land grabs and work to ease wealth disparities.
China's top political leaders, including President Hu Jintao and Wen, don't disclose their personal finances or those of their families.
Chinese private executives such as Zong and Lu have built their fortunes on the back of economic growth that has averaged 10.1 percent in the last 30 years. The U.S. economy expanded by an average annual rate of 2.7 percent in the same period.
Regular Chinese have also benefited from the growth of China's economy, which surpassed Japan as the world's second biggest in 2010. Since introducing free-market policies, China has lifted 300 million of its 1.3 billion citizens out of poverty, according to the United Nations.
Annual growth of per capita GDP in China was 9.8 percent at the end of 2010. Per capita GDP has more than doubled since 2000, according to the World Bank.
The wealth gap between legislatures holds with statistically comparable samples. The richest 2 percent of the NPC -- 60 people -- had an average wealth of $1.44 billion per person. The richest 2 percent of Congress -- 11 members -- had an average wealth of $323 million.
The U.S. figures come from a downloadable database on the website of the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. The U.S. figures are inflated because the database includes members of Congress who were retired or defeated in the 2010 elections as well as their replacements.