Forbes, which has been producing annual Chinese mainland celebrity rankings since 2004, released its latest list on Tuesday amid stars’ skepticism and the public’s anticipation.

Like in the previous year, NBA star Yao Ming topped the new list of 100 celebrities with the most frequent media exposure and a pre-tax yearly income of 387 million yuan (US$54.5 million), also the highest among all.

Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang followed Yao Ming closely like last year. Rising basketball player Yi Jianlian, ranked No. 4, is the only other sports star on the top 10.

Martial-arts superstar Jet Li, who failed to enter the top 100 last year, soared to No. 3 with the reason given by Forbes that the kung-fu king has had three new films since the last ranking (”The Warlords,” “The Forbidden Kingdom,” and “The Mummy 3″), and his heartfelt devotion to charity work (Jet Li runs the disaster-relief One Foundation) also added to his score.

Hollywood-bound actress Zhang Ziyi leads the female front-runners. She will have two films opening soon this year, including her new Hollywood effort “The Horsemen” and Chinese director Chen Kaige’s biopic of Peking opera master Mei Lanfang. Her high-profile romance with multimillionaire Vivi Nevo also contributed to her high media expose.

Following Zhang Ziyi on the list are actresses Fan Bingbing, Vicki Zhao Wei, Zhou Xun and Li Bingbing, all among the most active contributors to the Chinese entertainment industry.

Although there seems to be a little confusion mixing up Li Bingbing with another Chinese actress, Fan Bingbing, the two look quite different, but both seem to be rather popular with the Chinese fans.