Zhang Xin

Zhang Xin spent her childhood in a grim five-storey block on the outskirts of Beijing, eating canteen-produced rice from an iron bowl alongside other offspring of toiling Chinese workers.

As Chinese investors in the US real estate market continue to increase in number, a group led by Zhang Xin, CEO of the Beijing-based property firm SOHO China, is reportedly nearing a deal for a 40 per cent stake in New York's General Motors building, which would value the skyscraper at an estimated $3.4bn (£2.3bn).

As a real estate developer, she's behind much of the Beijing skyline. Zhang Xin tells Christiane Amanpour, "When there's opportunity out there... go for it."