Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of China's largest air conditioning manufacturer Gree Electric Appliances Inc.[Photo/VCG]

Forbes China has named the chairwoman of China's largest air conditioning manufacturer the most outstanding businesswoman in the country.

Gree Electric Appliances chairwoman Dong Mingzhu topped Forbes list of China's top 100 businesswomen, followed by Sun Yafang, chairwoman of Huawei Technologies.

In third place is Lucy Peng, chairwoman of Ant Financial Services Group, the payment affiliate of Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. She was one of three female executives to make the list from Alibaba Group and its affiliates.

Rounding out the top five this year are Yang Huiyan, vice-chairwoman of Guangdong-based property developer Country Garden Holdings in fourth, and Song Guangju, chairwoman of Poly Real Estate Group in fifth.

Forbes released the rankings in 2014 for the first time.

The magazine determines the ranking based on the companies' scale, management, influence and numbers of employees.

Most notably, businesswomen in tech-business made frequent appearances on the list, including Sun Jie of Ctrip.com International, one of the country's biggest online travel agencies, and Liu Qing, president of ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing.

Three post-80s women also made the list; Liu Chang of New Hope Liuhe, Hu Jiajia of Meters/bonwe and Zong Fuli (or Kelly Zong) of Hangzhou Hongsheng Beverage Group Ltd.