Xiao Jianhua Credit: Chinese University of Hong Kong
Huaxia Life Insurance logo
Three and a half years ago, in the wee hours of the night, the billionaire financier Xiao Jianhua was led out of the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong in a wheelchair, with a sheet draped over his head, and whisked across the border into China.
He has not been heard from since, and is believed to be detained by the Chinese government under a form of house arrest in Shanghai.
But in a dramatic move Friday, China seized control of his business empire, assets held by his flagship Tomorrow Group, a sprawling and secretive financial conglomerate that consists of banks, brokerages, insurance and trust companies, publicly traded firms and investment vehicles that together were once worth more than $100 billion, according to his former aides.
Xiao was one of the world’s richest men — and one of the few businessmen to command a full suite of licenses to do business in China’s highly regulated market for financial services. How that financial empi
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
As the Belt and Road Initiative gets ready to celebrate its 10th anniversary, Italy is looking for the off-ramp. Beijing's response, plus Italy's ability to negotiate a new deal for itself, will speak volumes about both China's standing in Europe and what the BRI, once seen as a colossus, has left to offer.
