A Guangzhou court has accepted a bankruptcy liquidation case against Hengda Real Estate Group, China Evergrande’s main mainland property unit that carried much of the group’s debt, after a creditor said the developer could not repay obligations and lacked sufficient assets. The step came a day after a Shenzhen court sentenced founder Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, to life in prison for financial crimes and ordered his personal assets confiscated, with dozens of others tied to the group, including his sons, receiving terms of up to 18 years. Evergrande defaulted on roughly $300 billion of liabilities after China’s 2020 crackdown on developer leverage, and a Hong Kong court ordered the holding company into liquidation in 2024; cross-border legal limits, competing claims and an unfinished housing downturn mean creditors are widely expected to recover only a small fraction of what they are owed.