Today, August 20th, Hengda Group founder Xu Jiayin was sentenced to life imprisonment by the court. His two sons, Xu Zhijian and Xu Tenghe, were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment.
According to announcements from the Shenzhen Intermediate Court and Nanshan District Court in Shenzhen today, Xu Jiayin was sentenced to life imprisonment. 56 individuals related to Hengda Group, including Zhen Litao, Ke Peng, Xu Tenghe, Xu Zhijian, Du Liang, and Liang Dong, were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 1 year and 10 months to 18 years.
Xu Zhijian and Xu Tenghe are the two sons of Xu Jiayin, both of whom have served as vice presidents of Hengda Real Estate Group.
Xu Jiayin’s elder son, Xu Zhijian, entered Hengda Group around 2010, holding four key positions including Vice President of Hengda Group, Chairman of Garden Group, Chairman of Lito Company, and Chairman of Property Group. It was previously rumored that Xu Zhijian had obtained permanent residency in Canada.
Xu Jiayin’s second son, Xu Tenghe (Peter Xu), has experience studying at Harvard University and has served as Chairman of the Pearl River Delta Company of Hengda Group for many years. He has also been responsible for important work at Hengda Wealth, and held positions as Vice President of Hengda Real Estate Group and Executive Vice President of High-Tech Group.
On September 28, 2023, Hengda announced that Xu Jiayin was taken into custody, with Xu Tenghe having been taken away earlier. At that time, reports circulated on the mainland that Xu’s elder son was receiving trust income overseas, while the second son was undergoing investigation domestically, and the daughter remained in Shanghai to continue daily affairs. The different situations faced by the three individuals were believed to stem from arrangements made by Xu Jiayin years ago.
It was reported that Xu Jiayin’s daughter, Xu Xiyun, works in the Lujiazui area of Shanghai, handling some report compilation tasks. She has maintained a low profile with almost no publicly circulated photos, is not involved in decision-making at work, nor does she sign important documents. She drives a limited edition sports car and resides in a high-end residential community, maintaining distance from the company’s core affairs to avoid direct exposure.
After the Hengda crisis, Xu Xiyun practically disappeared from social platforms, no longer appearing in public events, and opting for low-key business car travel. Since she was not involved in Hengda’s core business, she is not currently facing legal responsibilities, with her specific whereabouts becoming a mystery.
Xu Jiayin also has two underage children living with their mother. In 2025, Xu Jiayin’s ex-wife, Ding Yumei, revealed for the first time in an application for asset freeze that she was living with “two underage children,” garnering widespread attention due to Ding Yumei being 68 years old at the time.
Following Xu Jiayin’s arrest, a document titled “Chronicles of Hengda Group Leadership” circulated online, detailing the extravagant lifestyles and preferences of Xu’s family, including reception guidelines for Xu Jiayin, Xu Zhijian, and Xu Tenghe.
Xu Zhijian’s listed preferences include smoking hard box Zhonghua cigarettes, ensuring the air conditioning vents in the room are cleaned in advance, having canned coconut juice, Assam milk tea, and straws in the refrigerator, changing the bed linens daily, keeping an extra blanket in the room, enjoying Coca-Cola, and eating french fries.
Xu Tenghe’s preferences include preferring not to be called by his Chinese name, but can be addressed as General Xu, requesting a non-smoking floor arrangement in the room, using the name Peter Xu for registration, unplugging the phone line, setting a “do not disturb” sign at the door, ensuring strong Wi-Fi signal, preparing a laptop, router (with the name set as Peter and password as peter123), controlling room temperature at 23.5 degrees Celsius with 60% humidity, readying several humidifiers and heaters in advance for winter and summer temperature control, and having Evian drinking water with the latest production date placed in the room.
A cigar smoked by Xu Jiayin was valued at 3,000 Chinese yuan. Despite owning Hengda Ice Spring, Xu and his sons only drink brands like Konka and Evian mineral water.
Additionally, when Xu Jiayin stayed in hotels, no other men were allowed to enter. The room had specific requirements for humidity, temperature, and sound levels in the corridor. Personal items like tea sets and even the ashtray for smoking were custom-made for individual use.
Zhen Litao, who was also sentenced this time, joined Hengda Group in 2009 and held positions such as Chairman of Hengda Real Estate Group’s Changchun, Liaoning, and Beijing companies, as well as Group CEO. Since December 2020, he served as CEO of China Evergrande Group and became Chairman of Evergrande Property Group in July 2021, overseeing daily management. He resigned as Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Evergrande Properties in July 2022.
Ke Peng previously served as CEO of Hengda Group and Chairman of Hengda Football Club.