Exile, jail, abduction - the hazardous lives of China's rich

Beijing

THE mysterious case of a billionaire who went missing from Hong Kong last week, reportedly abducted by mainland security agents, has underscored the precarious lives of China's ultra rich.

Local media said that financier Xiao Jianhua was last seen at his apartment in Hong Kong's Four Seasons hotel and is under investigation in connection with China's 2015 stocks crash.

There is no shortage of examples of other tycoons who have met a similar fate in a country that has the largest number of billionaires in the world - 594, according to the latest ranking of the magazine Hurun.

In China, company chiefs need the backing of the Communist Party to get rich, but they also need it …