Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 and launched a large-scale “anti-corruption campaign”, the overseas identities and commercial assets of his family members have been the focus of international public opinion. Although the Chinese authorities emphasize “one must be strong to forge iron”, international investigative reports have revealed a huge business network deeply rooted in the fields of energy, real estate, and offshore finance.
1. International Identity: Overlap of Green Cards and Nationalities
According to a deep investigation by Bloomberg in 2012 and subsequent supplementary materials, the overseas identities of Xi’s family members are as follows:
- Qi Qiaoqiao (eldest sister) and Deng Jiagui (brother-in-law): They were confirmed to have Canadian permanent residency (green card). Qi Qiaoqiao and her daughter Zhang Yannan also hold Hong Kong permanent resident identity cards.
- Xi An’an (second sister) and Wu Long (second brother-in-law): They have long resided in Australia and have been confirmed by multiple media outlets as Australian permanent residents or citizens.
- Xi Yuanping (brother): Xi Yuanping himself once publicly admitted that he lived in Australia for work and to take care of his family. According to verification, he holds an Australian permanent residency visa and a Hong Kong permanent resident identity card.
- Ke Lingling (ex-wife): After their divorce, Ke Lingling immigrated and settled in the UK.
2. Commercial Assets: From Real Estate to Rare Earths
On the eve of Xi Jinping’s official appointment as General Secretary in 2012, Bloomberg, by tracking thousands of pages of business registration records, revealed some of the assets of Xi’s family (mainly under the names of Qi Qiaoqiao, Deng Jiagui, and Zhang Yannan):
- Mining and Energy: Once held 18% of the shares of a rare earth company (Jiangxi Rare Earth Rare Metal Tungsten Group), which was worth about $311 million at the time.
- Real Estate: Owned multiple luxury houses in Hong Kong, including a Repulse Bay villa under the name of Zhang Yannan, which was worth about $31.5 million at the time.
- Wanda Shares: The New York Times revealed that Qi Qiaoqiao and her husband once held early shares in Dalian Wanda Group. Wanda Chairman Wang Jianlin later confirmed that the Xi family had transferred their shares before Wanda’s IPO.
3. “Panama Papers”: The Secrets of Offshore Companies
In 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) revealed the “Panama Papers”, which added new evidence to the overseas finances of the Xi family:
- Deng Jiagui’s offshore companies: The documents show that Deng Jiagui, the brother-in-law, established three offshore companies (registered in the British Virgin Islands) in 2004 and 2009 (during Xi Jinping’s tenure as Vice President).
- Key points: The ICIJ pointed out that these three companies were in an “inactive” or “closed” state before Xi Jinping came to power in 2012. Although there is no direct evidence to show that these companies were involved in money laundering, their secrecy has raised public doubts about “overseas tax evasion” or “wealth transfer” by the relatives of high-ranking officials.
4. Corruption Disputes and “Political Purge”
Faced with exposure by international media, the Chinese government usually adopts a strategy of blocking the entire network, but also responded through indirect channels:
- The narrative of “strict family management”: After 2014, there were reports that Xi Jinping had personally urged relatives to withdraw from the business sector. Wang Jianlin once publicly stated that the Xi family transferred their shares at a low price before Wanda’s IPO in order to cooperate with Xi Jinping’s image of political integrity, and even “sacrificed huge commercial interests”.
- US Intelligence Report (2025): In March 2025, a declassified report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) of the United States pointed out that although Xi had carried out a decade-long anti-corruption campaign, his relatives still held commercial interests worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and questioned whether these assets benefited from his political influence.
Currently, there is no public evidence to show that Xi Jinping himself owns huge assets, and the wealth accumulation of his family is mainly concentrated in the hands of his sister Qi Qiaoqiao and brother-in-law Deng Jiagui. Although the Xi family took certain measures to “reduce assets” after 2012 to reduce political risks, their family’s nationalities, offshore companies, and deep business connections overseas still formed a strong contrast and controversy with Xi Jinping’s image of “clean and anti-corruption”.
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