The Evergrande case was on trial in Shenzhen last week, with Evergrande Group founder Xu Jiaying facing charges of fundraising fraud and 8 other crimes. After Evergrande’s collapse, it left behind debts of 2.4 trillion yuan. The involvement of high-ranking officials in Xu Jiaying’s case continues to attract attention.
The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court held a trial on April 13th to 14th involving Evergrande Group and Xu Jiaying. Xu Jiaying was accused of illegal absorption of public deposits, fundraising fraud, illegal lending, illegal use of funds, fraudulent issuance of securities, improper disclosure of important information, embezzlement of duties, and unit bribery.
Xu Jiaying, as the chairman of Evergrande Group and the Communist Party Secretary of the company, was also the former chairman of Evergrande Real Estate Group and the owner of Guangzhou Football Club. He had also held positions such as Vice Chairman of the China Enterprise Confederation, Vice Chairman of the China Real Estate Association, Chairman of the Guangdong Henan Chamber of Commerce, Honorary Chairman of the Guangdong Charity Federation, Vice Chairman of the Guangdong Glory Career Promotion Association, and was a specially appointed professor at his alma mater Wuhan University of Science and Technology, serving as a doctoral supervisor. He was also a member of the 12th and 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. In 2021, during the CCP anniversary, Xu Jiaying, then a member of the National Committee of the CPPCC, participated in the ceremony at Tiananmen Gate Tower.
After Xu Jiaying’s trial, netizens discussed, “Seeing him rise high, seeing his building collapse.”
Xu Jiaying founded Evergrande in 1996, expanded nationwide in the real estate industry in 2004, and listed Evergrande Real Estate in Hong Kong in 2009, entering a golden period. Subsequently, he engaged in diversified investments, with Evergrande Auto receiving over 40 billion yuan in investment without producing a single car, Evergrande Spring incurring a loss of 4 billion yuan, and Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club accumulating over 7 billion yuan in losses.
Evergrande also invested approximately $12 billion in developing Hainan’s Ocean Flower Island, touted as the world’s largest artificial island, but it ended up as an unfinished project. Most of these investments were funded through borrowing.
Both Xu Jiaying and Evergrande Group were charged with “unit bribery.” An article by Hong Kong’s Ming Pao on April 20 listed high officials implicated in Xu Jiaying’s case, starting with Zhang Qi, former Party Secretary of Danzhou City, who approved the illegal construction of Ocean Flower Island. Zhang Qi later rose to become a member of the Hainan Provincial Committee and Party Secretary of Haikou City, eventually sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption in 2020.
The report also mentioned Sun Zhigang, former Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, who, like Xu Jiaying, hails from Henan Province and is an alumnus of Wuhan Institute of Iron and Steel. After Sun Zhigang took office in Guizhou in 2015, Evergrande invested over 7.5 billion yuan in the province for so-called “assistance” projects and engaged in large-scale real estate developments in Guiyang. Sun Zhigang was sentenced to death with a reprieve in 2024, with his crimes including providing assistance for real estate development.
Former Minister of Justice Tang Yijun was sentenced to life imprisonment for accepting bribes. According to Caixin, Tang Yijun, during his two and a half years as Governor of Liaoning, facilitated Evergrande’s large-scale investments in real estate in the province and helped Xu Jiaying gain controlling share of Shengjing Bank. Shengjing Bank had provided over 100 billion yuan in funds to Evergrande, resulting in bad debts.
Chen Rugui, former Mayor of Shenzhen and a veteran of Guangzhou’s urban construction system, had a long acquaintance with Xu Jiaying. In 2017, when Chen Rugui became Mayor of Shenzhen, Evergrande’s headquarters relocated from Guangzhou to Shenzhen and received multiple policy supports.
Ming Pao also highlighted that Jiao Zhongan, a former State Sports General Administration Director sentenced to death for embezzlement, had promoted the “Evergrande National Team” model during his tenure, leading to several national team players transferring to Evergrande Football Club.
Moreover, Sun Deshun, former President of CITIC Bank, Tian Huiyu, former President of China Merchants Bank, Liu Lian’ge, former President of Bank of China, and Li Xiaopeng, former Chairman of Everbright Bank, are all suspected of approving massive loans for Evergrande.
The business network behind Xu Jiaying has always been considered extensive.
In “Red Roulette,” author and former member of the Beijing CPPCC Desmond Shum described a lavish wine-tasting and shopping trip in Europe in 2011, attended by Xu Jiaying and the daughter and son-in-law of former Politburo Standing Committee member Jia Qinglin.
Australian scholar Yuan Hongbing stated that it was well-known in the Chinese official circles that Xu Jiaying had close ties with the family of Zeng Qinghong, mentioning Zeng Qinghuai, Zeng Qinghong’s son Zeng Wei, and even Zeng Qinghong himself. Zeng Qinghuai represents the Zeng Qinghong family.
In September 2023, Xu Jiaying was taken in by the police for “residential surveillance at a designated place.” Around this time, several high-ranking officials, including former Guizhou Provincial Secretary Sun Zhigang, former Chairman of Everbright Group Li Xiaopeng, former President of Bank of China Liu Lian’ge, former Liaoning Governor Tang Yijun, and former Hubei Provincial Party Secretary Jiang Chaoliang, all fell from power and were revealed by local media to have close ties with Xu Jiaying.
Radio Free Asia columnist Gao Xin once wrote that Jiang Chaoliang, who served as Hubei Provincial Party Secretary for three years, had at least three “intimate interactions” with Xu Jiaying. On the other hand, Chen Yixin, who served as Secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Party Committee for only one year and two months, warmly invited Xu Jiaying to visit Wuhan at least twice. The so-called “Yangtze River New City” was named by Chen Yixin when he became Secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Party Committee, aiming to emulate Shanghai Pudong and Hebei Xiong’an. Chen Yixin is a trusted associate of Xi Jinping and currently serves as Minister of the Ministry of State Security.
Gao Xin’s article also mentioned another high official closely associated with Xu Jiaying – Chen Min’er, one of Xi’s trusted officials, and former top national official Yu Zhengsheng. In March 2013, Xu Jiaying was promoted from member to standing committee of the National Committee of the CPPCC. Yu Zhengsheng, who was the Chairman of the CPPCC during that time, had personally “mediated” for Xu Jiaying and Guizhou to help with poverty alleviation.
Recently, Ma Xingrui, a member of the Central Politburo of the CPC, was officially announced to have fallen from grace. Independent commentator Du Zheng cited rumors in Guangzhou political circles indicating that Ma Xingrui’s problems stemmed from Guangdong. It was rumored at local banquets that after Xu Jiaying lost his freedom in September 2023, he provided authorities with a list of high-ranking officials, including Ma Xingrui.
Independent commentator Cai Shengkun once told Radio Free Asia that state-owned and private enterprises in China’s real estate industry have very close relationships with officials at all levels of the party and government, otherwise they would not be able to obtain land, projects, and funding. Xu Jiaying did not rise to prominence during the Hu and Wen era, but in the ten years of Xi Jinping’s rule, especially during the peak of China’s real estate development in 2018, it was also the peak period of Evergrande’s growth. Throughout this process, Xu Jiaying continuously made various political investments.
Cai Shengkun stated that in 2023, he saw former Vice Premier Liu He strongly advocating for the preservation of Evergrande. Over the past two years, various government working groups have provided guidance to prevent Evergrande from collapsing completely.
“Because there are definitely not just one or two party and government officials who have shared in the success of Xu Jiaying’s real estate development, there should be a large group of officials who have shared in the feast of China’s real estate.” he said.
During Evergrande’s heyday, it was flourishing, expanding from real estate into soccer, and even maintaining a “song and dance troupe.” Cai Shunkun said Xu Jiaying’s investment in soccer was to please Xi Jinping. Xu Jiaying had a “song and dance troupe” as well as a group of beautiful PR ladies: “In the process of dealing with land acquisition, tax matters, party and government officials must establish close connections, not only through financial interests but also largely through the exchange of favors, which includes a substantial aspect of beauties.”