Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, chairman of China Evergrande Group, was recently sentenced to life in prison. A U.S.-based political commentator has claimed that Ma Xingrui, a former member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo who was allegedly implicated by Hui, could also stand trial soon and may receive a sentence comparable to Hui’s.
Hui’s downfall has been linked to a number of senior Chinese officials. He has also been accused of acting as a “white glove,” or financial intermediary, for the family of former senior CCP leader Zeng Qinghong. Meanwhile, an anecdote claiming that a blind fortune-teller once predicted Hui’s eventual fate has circulated widely online.
Hui Ka Yan sentenced to life in prison; Ma Xingrui reportedly to stand trial soon
According to the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Hui Ka Yan, founder of China Evergrande Group, was sentenced to life in prison on Aug. 20, 2026, in a first-instance ruling that also ordered the confiscation of all his personal assets.
Hui was once China’s richest man and was a member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
It was believed that Hui Ka Yan was closely connected to the family of Zeng Qinghong and that he amassed enormous power during Xi Jinping’s tenure as the top leader. In September 2023, Hui was taken away by police.
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On Aug. 20, Cai Shenkun, a U.S.-based independent political commentator, posted on X: “Hui Ka Yan has been sentenced to life in prison! Once immensely powerful and influential, he has ultimately reached this point, which is lamentable. Hui Ka Yan has also dragged many high-ranking officials down with him. Ma Xingrui, a former member of the Politburo who was implicated by Hui, will soon stand trial as well, and his sentence is expected to be roughly the same as Hui’s.”
Cai said that businessman Xu Zhongyi introduced Hui Ka Yan to Ma Xingrui, who was then secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee. The three subsequently went hiking together. After they came down from the mountain, Hui did not hesitate to offend Ren Xuefeng, who was then a member of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and secretary of the Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee, by moving Evergrande’s headquarters from Guangzhou to Shenzhen.
At the time, after hearing that Evergrande was moving its headquarters to Shenzhen, Ren Xuefeng had dealt with a large number of people at the Guangzhou Administration for Industry and Commerce. Ultimately, however, he was unable to prevail against Ma Xingrui and left Guangzhou for Chongqing. There, he reportedly had a difficult time under Chen Min’er, then secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee. On Oct. 31, 2019—the day the Fourth Plenum of the 19th CPC Central Committee concluded—Ren Xuefeng jumped to his death at the Jingxi Hotel in Beijing.
Some people have also claimed that Ren Xuefeng was thrown from the 14th floor of the Jingxi Hotel.
According to a transcript published by New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD) on Aug. 21, commentator Jin Ran said on his program Current Affairs Jin Scan: “What appeared to be an ordinary mountain hike at the time ultimately became connected to the tragic death of a vice-provincial-level official who fell from a building and the downfall of a Politburo member. It vividly demonstrates the bloodiness and ruthlessness of the collusion between the Chinese Communist Party’s officialdom and capital.”
Hui Ka Yan actively sought to show loyalty to the CCP
On Aug. 23, 2002, Evergrande Group established a CCP Party committee, becoming the first non-public enterprise in Guangzhou to establish one. Hui Ka Yan personally served as its Party secretary. He also attributed his own success and Evergrande’s rise to the CCP, frequently saying things such as, “I am a person of the Party” and “Evergrande belongs to the Party.”
The Evergrande Group Party committee, together with its 38 subordinate Party committees and 1,133 Party branches, oversaw a total of 12,075 Party members.
Hui Ka Yan served for several consecutive terms as a member and Standing Committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). On July 1, 2021, Hui was seated on the viewing platform for the Chinese Communist Party’s centenary celebrations. Yet just a few months later, Hui began scrambling to deal with the debt crisis that had engulfed Evergrande.
In a July 2025 commentary for Taiwan’s Up Media, independent commentator Du Zheng wrote that, by the CCP’s standards, Hui could be regarded as a private entrepreneur with the “strongest Party loyalty.” Hui, he said, understood the Party’s “sinister nature” and leveraged its power to build his corporate empire. But although Hui wanted his company to “follow the Party,” Du wrote, he ultimately “walked into the Party’s cage.”
Hui Ka Yan accused of relying on Zeng Qinghong, Jia Qinglin, Ma Xingrui and others
In China under CCP rule, private enterprises seeking to grow large generally need CCP officials behind them to provide political “backing.”
Hui Ka Yan has been accused of having ties to a group of powerful CCP figures, including retired Politburo Standing Committee member Zeng Qinghong and his brother Zeng Qinghuai, the family of Jia Qinglin, and former Politburo member Ma Xingrui.
Red Roulette, a book primarily exposing China’s Communist Party elite and transactions involving power and sex, recounts a wine-tasting and shopping trip in Europe in 2011. Hui Ka Yan, Jia Qiang, the daughter of then-CCP Politburo Standing Committee member Jia Qinglin, and her husband Li Botan all participated in the trip.
In an October 2021 interview with The Epoch Times, Australia-based scholar Yuan Hongbing said it was “common knowledge” in CCP officialdom that Hui Ka Yan had close ties to the Zeng Qinghong family. Yuan said Hui’s real-estate empire was able to grow so large because of the strong support of Zeng Qinghong’s younger brother, Zeng Qinghuai, and described Hui as a “white glove” for the Zeng family.
Yuan said that when the economic crisis emerged, Hui Ka Yan sought to use various means to transfer his personal wealth overseas—something that CCP leader Xi Jinping could not allow. Yuan said this was the direct reason Hui ultimately got into trouble.
Hui Ka Yan’s relationship with Evergrande’s development was also connected to Ma Xingrui.
In a July 27, 2025 commentary for Taiwan’s Up Media, independent commentator Du Zheng wrote that a contact in Guangzhou political circles believed the “root” of Ma Xingrui’s problems lay in Guangdong. Du said rumors circulating at local dinner gatherings claimed that after Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan was detained in September 2023, he provided authorities with a long list of senior officials, reportedly including Ma Xingrui.
According to an Oct. 3, 2023 report by New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD), businessman and author Shen Dong, also known as Desmond Shum, wrote on X after Hui Ka Yan’s detention that Chinese authorities had kept Hui in place while he remained useful in dealing with Evergrande’s debts and unfinished projects. Shum added: “I would say he has been on the chopping block for a long time now. The knife will fall, it’s just a matter of time.”
Hui Ka Yan’s ties to numerous high-ranking officials
In addition to the support of powerful “red aristocrat” families within the CCP leadership, Hui Ka Yan also had dealings and allegedly cultivated mutually beneficial relationships with officials in various parts of China.
On April 20, 2026, Hong Kong’s Ming Pao published an overview of senior officials linked to the Hui Ka Yan case, beginning with Zhang Qi, the former Danzhou Municipal Party Committee secretary who approved Evergrande’s Ocean Flower Island project. Separately, Radio Free Asia reported that Zhang improperly pushed the project forward during his tenure. The development involved 783 hectares of land reclamation and caused permanent damage to marine areas and coral reefs, according to RFA. Zhang later became a member of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee and secretary of the Haikou Municipal Party Committee before being sentenced to life in prison in 2020 for corruption.
The report noted that Sun Zhigang, former secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, and Hui Ka Yan were both from Henan and were alumni of Wuhan Iron and Steel University. After Sun became deputy secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee in 2015, Evergrande launched so-called “assistance” projects in Guizhou, investing more than 7.5 billion yuan and acquiring large amounts of land for real estate development in Guiyang. On Oct. 29, 2024, Sun was given a suspended death sentence for accepting more than 800 million yuan in bribes. One of the charges against him was “providing assistance for real estate development.”
In October 2017, Tang Yijun was transferred to become deputy secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee. From January 2018 to April 2020, he served as governor of Liaoning Province.
According to an April 4, 2024 report by Caixin that was later removed from its website, a ministry-level source said Tang Yijun helped Hui Ka Yan obtain control of Shengjing Bank while Tang governed Liaoning and failed to exercise adequate oversight of the bank and its Evergrande-linked controlling shareholder. The report said regulators later determined that Shengjing Bank had provided Evergrande with more than 100 billion yuan through direct and indirect financing channels, leaving substantial bad debts.
On Feb. 2, 2026, Tang Yijun was sentenced to life in prison.
Chen Rugui, former mayor of Shenzhen, came from Guangzhou’s urban construction system and was a “longtime acquaintance” of Hui Ka Yan. In August 2017, Chen became mayor of Shenzhen. That same month, Evergrande moved its headquarters from Guangzhou to Nanshan District in Shenzhen and received multiple forms of policy support from the CCP.
On Aug. 6, 2024, Chen Rugui was sentenced to life in prison for corruption.
Ming Pao also mentioned Gou Zhongwen, former director of China’s General Administration of Sport, who promoted the “Evergrande national team” model during his tenure and facilitated the transfers of several national-team players to Evergrande Football Club.
On Dec. 8, 2025, Gou Zhongwen was given a suspended death sentence. In its official announcement, the CCP authorities accused him of “seeking benefits for others in business operations, personnel appointments and other areas, illegally accepting huge amounts of money and property; making arbitrary decisions and abusing his power…”
Ming Pao also reported that several senior financial-sector executives—including former China CITIC Bank president Sun Deshun, former Bank of China president Liu Liange, former China Merchants Bank president Tian Huiyu, and former China Everbright executive Li Xiaopeng—were suspected of giving Evergrande preferential access to massive loans.
Of the four, Li Xiaopeng was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Sun Deshun, Liu Liange and Tian Huiyu were all given suspended death sentences.
Gao Xin, a columnist for Radio Free Asia, previously wrote that during Jiang Chaoliang’s three years as secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee, he had at least three “close interactions” with Hui Ka Yan. Chen Yixin, who served as secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Party Committee for only one year and two months, invited Hui to visit Wuhan enthusiastically on at least two occasions. Gao also mentioned another serving senior official who had close dealings with Hui: Chen Min’er, regarded as one of the representatives of the “Xi Jinping faction.” Another was Yu Zhengsheng, a former national-level senior official.
According to a March 2025 Radio Free Asia report, Chinese state media had previously highlighted Hui Ka Yan’s ties to former CPPCC chairman Yu Zhengsheng. RFA cited a March 2016 Beijing Youth Daily article stating that Yu personally “picked” Hui to participate in discussions on poverty-alleviation initiatives in Guizhou, effectively acting as a “matchmaker” between Hui and the province.
Online story claims blind fortune-teller predicted Hui Ka Yan’s fate
On Sept. 28, 2023, Chinese authorities took Hui Ka Yan into custody on the grounds that he was “suspected of violating the law and committing crimes.”
After Hui Ka Yan’s detention in September 2023, an anecdote about an alleged encounter between Hui and a blind fortune-teller began circulating widely on Chinese social media. One version appeared on the financial platform Xueqiu on Oct. 6, 2023.
According to the story, in 2018, Hui returned to his hometown of Zhoukou, Henan Province. A local powerful figure—described as an official—wanted to curry favor with Hui but did not know how to entertain him. He therefore said that there was a blind fortune-teller in the local county who was exceptionally accurate, and the group went to visit him.
When they arrived, the blind man first felt Hui Ka Yan’s hands and then touched his forehead. He told Hui two things: “You suffered greatly when you were young, eating cornmeal buns and pickles; you will also suffer greatly in your old age, eating cornmeal buns and pickles.”
Hui reportedly laughed after hearing this and said nothing. He simply waved his hand, and his assistant handed the blind man a paper bag containing 50,000 yuan.
After seeing Hui leave the room, the local official scolded the fortune-teller, asking why he had not said something more pleasant after receiving so much money.
The blind man weighed the paper bag in his hand and replied: “Is this a lot of money? It’s only 50,000 yuan—it can only protect him for five years.”
Three years later, Evergrande’s debt crisis erupted. Two years after that, Hui Ka Yan was arrested, and the days of eating cornmeal buns and pickles supposedly began.
According to an October 2023 episode of Li Muyang’s News Insights program, the authenticity of the fortune-teller story remains uncertain. Li said the account “could be true, could be false, or could be partly true and partly false.” He argued that because Hui Ka Yan had left so many ordinary Chinese people facing losses, many members of the public wanted to see him receive what they considered appropriate punishment.
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