As many as 124 companies based in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong appeared on the latest Fortune Global 500 list released by Fortune magazine on Aug 10.

The Chinese mainland and Hong Kong have the most companies on the list, exceeding the United States (121) for the first time. The number of Fortune Global 500 Chinese enterprises nearly doubled from 69 in 2011 to 124 this year.

The world's 500 largest companies generated combined revenues and profits of $33.3 trillion and $2.1 trillion respectively in 2019. The lowest sales revenue on the list was $25.4 billion.

Walmart, which took first place, was followed by Chinese companies Sinopec Group, State Grid Corp of China and China National Petroleum Corp in the second, third and fourth places.

Five Zhejiang-based companies made the ranking this year. They are Alibaba Group (132nd), Wuchan Zhongda Group (210th), Geely Group (243rd), Tsingshan Group (329th), and Hailiang Group (468th).

Alibaba Group was first listed on the Fortune Global 500 in 2017. The internet giant's operating revenue stood at $73.16 billion in 2019, up 30.3 percent year-on-year. Its ranking this year was 60 spots above last year's.

Traders wait for Chinese online retail giant Alibaba Group's stocks to go public on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Sept 19, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Wuchan Zhongda Group, a State-owned enterprise, is one of China's largest supply chain service integrators for bulk commodities. It first entered the list in 2011 and has been listed for 10 consecutive years.

Geely Group, a top private Chinese carmaker, is best known in the world for having acquired the Swedish brand Volvo in 2010. Geely has been scaling up its investment in research and development to boost the competitiveness of its models in China. It was ranked third among the top 10 Chinese automakers in a list released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers in July. The list was based on their sales in the first half of this year.

Employees work on the production line of Geely Auto's engine manufacturing unit in Yiwu, Zhejiang province. [Photo by Lyu Bin/For China Daily]