20 Chinese firms make it to Fortune 500

Fortune magazine published Wednesday its annual list of the 500 biggest companies in the world. Twenty Chinese firms, including four newcomers, are listed.

The three largest state-owned construction companies -- China Railway Engineering, China Railway Construction, and China State Construction -- entered the list for the first time. Shanghai Automotive, ranked 475, is the other newcomer.

Chinese companies who were on the Top 500 last year have maintained their places, with most firms even improving their standing. Sinopec remains the largest Chinese company on the list, moving up in ranking from 31 to 23.

State Grid, ranked 32, and China National Petroleum, ranked 39, remain the second and third biggest Chinese companies respectively.
The four state-owned commercial banks of China have also moved up substantially on the Top 500 list.

According to Fortune magazine, five of the top ten companies listed were from the oil industry. The world's largest company is the US-based Exxon Mobil, with 339.94 billion US dollars in revenue. It overtook Wal-Mart Stores, which was in first place last year.