BEIJING, Dec. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Senior business professionals, known as the "gold collar" class, have reached a new high of 342,000 in China, adding more to the country's rich people list, according to a leading Chinese market research company.

    The company, called CTR market research, has investigated companies of various lines in China's four most developed cities including Beijing, Shanghai and south China's Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and found out that the number of business professionals holding more power and making more money is growing.

    The survey says 12 percent of these people have the power of disposing of more than one million yuan (about 121,000 US dollars)per year, and six percent of whom control budgets of more than 10 million yuan (some 1.21 million US dollars).

    Among these business professionals, 68 percent are executive managers in the fields of marketing, financial, executive and business planning. English has become the second most used language besides the Chinese in their daily work, the survey indicates.

    Thirty-nine percent of these senior business professionals own cars, either private or provided by their companies. Seventy-five percent have their own houses, and the ratio of those buying new houses pricing more than 6,000 yuan (726 US dollars) per square meter in the coming year is much higher.

    Affluent as they are, however, the survey also acknowledges that they are working hard for it. More than 11 percent of them work over 12 hours per day, and 19 percent work an average of 10 to 12 hours daily. Enditem