The Hong Kong luxury hotel turned tycoon hideout away from prying mainland Chinese eyes
Billionaire Xiao Jianhua believed to have been holed up for years at Four Seasons prior to going missing
With its gold and marble decor and infinity pool featuring unrestricted views of Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong’s Four Seasons hotel is the height of luxury for lucky holidaymakers. But for a small handful of wealthy mainlanders it also serves as a comfortable and closeted hideout from prying authorities across the border.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign over the last four years drove swarms of rich mainlanders to seek shelter in Hong Kong, and the Four Seasons Hotel was usually their first choice as a stop. Conversations at Lung King Heen, the Chinese restaurant in the hotel, often started with “how’s your case going”, according to a report by a Chinese news portal run by Tencent Technologies in late 2014.
A number of mainland businessmen have made the Four Seasons their long-term hideout, earning the hotel, which faces north across the harbour towards the mainland, the reputation of being a den for fugitives sitting there facing Beijing, waiting until it is safe to return.
Xiao, with his entourage of female bodyguards, was one of the hotel’s most moneyed long-term guests.
The episode has prompted fears he may have been abducted and taken across the border, an act that would violate Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, which states mainland law enforcement officials are not permitted to operate in the city.
