The 33 tycoons surveyed had average wealth exceeding 2.2 billion yuan (275 million dollars), the Beijing Morning Post reported.

Lu Xueyi, director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' social studies institute, blamed the sentiments partly on China's legal system.

"Feelings of insecurity mainly stem from reasons involving policy and the system, as well as society's hatred and envy of the wealthy," Lu was quoted by the Beijing newspaper as saying.

The communist government has yet to specifically guarantee the protection of private property in the constitution. A growing wealth gap is also fueling resentment towards the rich.

"The survey results show that even though this special group of people have a lot of wealth, they do not really have a grasp of their fate, so they feel insecure," Bao Yujun, director of the China Private Economy Research Institute, told the Beijing paper.

Many of China's wealthy made their fortunes partly through connections with government officials, in a bid to navigate through red tape and bureaucracy. Ordinary Chinese harbor bitter resentment against some of those officials, who are perceived to benefit from huge bribes and shares of profits from their business connections.

Earlier this year a survey by Beijing-based Horizonkey, reported in the China Youth Daily, said Chinese people were feeling less secure as the income gap between cities and rural areas widened.

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