Chinese entrepreneur Xie Chaohui says his decision to support Hong Kong’s 2019 anti-extradition protests triggered years of retaliation that ultimately cost him much of his fortune and forced him to flee abroad. Xie spent nearly two decades building businesses in real estate development, construction, and catering across China’s Hunan Province. At his peak, he estimates his assets totaled about 1 billion yuan (about USD$149 million), making him a prominent private businessman in Changsha and Shaoyang.
He said years of dealing with local officials had already left him disillusioned with mainland China’s business environment. “If you don’t give these officials some benefits, nothing can get done,” Xie said, adding that construction and real estate businesses could hardly “escape exploitation.”
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A steady erosion of civil liberties
Xie applied for Hong Kong investment immigration in 2012 and obtained residency in 2016. But Hong Kong’s political climate had changed sharply by then. When the former British colony was returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Beijing pledged to preserve its separate legal system and civil liberties under the “one country, two systems” framework.
But after the mass protests of 2019, Beijing imposed the highly controversial National Security Law in late 2020, followed by electoral changes that sharply limited the opposition’s role in government. In 2024, Hong Kong enacted an additional security law under Article 23 of its Basic Law, expanding offenses related to treason, sedition, espionage, state secrets, and foreign interference.
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Rights groups and international observers have said the sweeping measures have severely curtailed freedoms of expression, association, assembly, and free press, while Hong Kong and Beijing authorities argue they were necessary to restore stability and safeguard national security.
From Hong Kong protester to police target
Xie moved to Hong Kong in 2019 and soon encountered the anti-extradition movement firsthand. He said the July 21 attack by men dressed in white in Yuen Long and Tuen Mun proved decisive. Watching television coverage of people wielding sticks and metal pipes against demonstrators, Xie compared the violence with protests he described as “very peaceful, very rational and nonviolent.”
“Why would the triads in Tuen Mun hate these anti-extradition protesters and these students who were demanding democracy so much? Someone must have ordered them to do it.” Xie began joining weekend demonstrations and later posted about the protests on WeChat and Weibo, two highly popular social media and blogging apps used by millions of people in China.
The next day, he said, his accounts were blocked and he received a call from someone claiming to be a national security officer. “Don’t think that just because you’ve gone to Hong Kong, we can’t do anything to you or punish you. Your house, your car, and your company are all in mainland China, right?” To make matters worse, police later began questioning his relatives, recounted Xie.
Assets frozen, family drawn in
Xie said authorities initially investigated him for allegedly “violating citizens’ personal and democratic rights” before transferring the case to Shaoyang. Police then labeled him as the alleged ringleader of an “evil forces” criminal group, citing old disputes and past acquaintances. Between 20 and 30 people were reportedly implicated.
“Some of these people I didn’t know at all. Some of them didn’t even know who I was when they saw me in court,” he said. Xie added the case was later reframed under organized-crime charges that could permit broader asset confiscation. He said family bank accounts, his mother’s pension, and valuables held by relatives were frozen or seized.
“My mother was one of the first women in our area to become a ‘10,000-yuan household’ and later a ‘100,000-yuan household.’ She ran a restaurant business for 30 or 40 years and received numerous awards recognizing her as an outstanding businesswoman and exemplary self-employed entrepreneur. I never dreamed that she would spend her later years living like this!” he recounted.
Fleeing Hong Kong
Xie said Hong Kong authorities renewed his residency twice, but his application for permanent residency was later rejected. He said immigration officials confiscated his Chinese passport over alleged document irregularities and detained him for six months before deciding not to prosecute. “Hong Kong has become like this. Isn’t that frightening?” he said.
Using a previously issued Canadian visa, Xie applied for travel authorization and flew to Toronto shortly after receiving approval. He described arriving in Canada as having “finally breathed a sigh of relief.” But even there, Xie said calls and messages from mainland police continued.
“If you don’t come back, then while you’re abroad, don’t participate in activities to subvert state power or say anything bad about the country,” he recalled being told. “This is like the mafia. They don’t reason with you at all.” Xie has since become active in overseas democracy and human-rights events in Canada.
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