The moment passed without fanfare. China Evergrande, a real estate developer that once represented the pinnacle of China’s economic prowess, was formally removed from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday.

这个时刻悄然过去了。曾经代表中国经济实力巅峰的房地产开发商中国恒大周一被正式从香港证券交易所摘牌。

Evergrande, which made its financial debut in Hong Kong 16 years ago, had once been the fastest growing property developer in a country brimming with promise of profits for investors. It will be remembered as one of the world’s most indebted companies whose collapse brought China’s financial system to the brink.

恒大集团16年前在香港上市，曾是这个为投资者孕育着丰厚利润前景的国家发展最快的房地产开发商之一。如今，它将作为全球负债最高的企业之一被载入史册——其轰然倒塌曾将中国金融体系推向崩溃边缘。

The company tested Beijing’s longtime “too big to fail” policy toward its biggest companies. It shattered its tolerance of unchecked borrowing by giant corporations. And Evergrande’s collapse in 2021, under more than $300 billion of debt, exposed the vulnerabilities of China’s economy and its dependence on real estate as a driver of growth.

恒大考验了中国政府长期以来对大型企业所奉行的“大到不能倒”政策，也打破了政府对大型企业无节制举债的容忍底线。2021年，背负着超过3000亿美元债务的恒大集团宣告破产，这一事件暴露了中国经济的脆弱性，及其对作为经济增长引擎的房地产的高度依赖。

Now what’s left is the carcass of a corporate behemoth — 1,300 not-yet-finished real estate projects in more than 280 cities and hundreds of thousands of home buyers still waiting on their apartments. Then there’s the long line of creditors, from businesses in China that worked for Evergrande to investors in London and New York who bet on it, still waiting to be repaid.

如今，这家商业巨头仅剩下一副残骸——全国280多个城市的1300个尚未完工的房地产项目，以及数十万仍在苦苦等待自己的住房交付的购房者。此外，还有一长串债权人在等待偿付，其中既包括曾与恒大合作的中国本土企业，也包括在伦敦、纽约等地对其下注的国际投资者。

2021年恒大某住宅项目的展厅。

Last year, a Hong Kong judge ordered Evergrande to be dismantled. She appointed Alvarez & Marsal, a firm that specializes in bankruptcies and had once helped unwind Lehman Brothers, to do the task. A year and a half into the job, the liquidators, as Alvarez & Marsal is known, have made small steps toward helping overseas creditors get tiny slices of what they are due.

去年，香港一名法官下令对恒大集团进行清算，并任命了专注于破产清算业务、曾协助处理雷曼兄弟破产案的安迈顾问有限公司(Alvarez & Marsal)负责此项工作。在接手清算工作一年半后，作为“清盘人”的安迈只在帮助海外债权人收回一小部分欠款方面取得了一些小的进展。

The latest publicly disclosed documents from Evergrande demonstrate the challenges.

恒大集团最新公开披露的文件充分展现了当前清算工作面临的重重挑战。

Creditors have made hundreds of legal moves against Evergrande’s projects in China, and dozens of assets have been frozen. In some cases, investors or local governments have taken over developments. It is already difficult for the Hong Kong liquidators to reclaim assets for other creditors because of Evergrande’s complex business structure with thousands of subsidiaries.

债权人已针对恒大集团在中国大陆的项目发起了数百起法律行动，数十项资产已被冻结。在部分案例中，投资者或地方政府已接管了相关开发项目。由于恒大集团旗下拥有数千家子公司，业务结构极为复杂，香港清算团队想要为其他债权人追回资产，本就已经困难重重。

To squeeze money out of what is left of Evergrande, the liquidators have to take over each subsidiary one at a time. Alvarez & Marsal has so far taken control of more than 100 companies and assets worth about $3.5 billion.

为从恒大集团剩余资产中榨取资金，清盘人不得不逐一接管其旗下的子公司。截至目前，安迈已掌控了超过100家关联公司及价值约35亿美元的资产。

2024年，北京一处被废弃的中国恒大商业综合体。

But only about $255 million of the $45 billion that creditors in Hong Kong claim they are owed has been scrounged up. And the liquidators have warned that even the value of some of the seized assets is in question, casting “serious doubt on the amounts, if any, that may ultimately be realized for the benefit of the company’s creditors.”The liquidators are pursuing another legal route to try to extract money from Evergrande: going after the former chairman, Hui Ka Yan, his wife, Ding Yu Mei, and Evergrande’s former chief executive, Xia Haijun. A case taking place in Hong Kong, with hearings that are closed to the public, has targeted $6 billion of assets that Mr. Hui and other executives paid to themselves in the years after Evergrande’s Hong Kong public listing.

然而，在香港债权人声称应得的450亿美元债务中，目前仅追回约2.55亿美元。清盘人还警告称，即便已扣押资产的价值也存在不确定性，这让人“对最终能为公司债权人追回多少资金，甚至能不能追回资金，都产生严重怀疑”。目前，清盘人正试图通过另一条法律途径挤出恒大集团的资金：追责前董事长许家印、其妻丁玉梅，以及前首席执行官夏海钧。香港正在进行的一桩闭门聆讯案件，目标直指许家印及其他高管在恒大香港上市后的几年间转给自己的60亿美元资产。

It is a study in the excess of a bygone era in China’s one-time freewheeling real estate industry. So far, the case has mostly focused on Mr. Hui’s wife and Mr. Xia. Mr. Hui was detained in 2023 and the authorities have since fined him $6.5 million and accused him of “organizing fraud.”

这起案件堪称曾经自由放任的中国房地产行业的缩影，代表着一个无节制的时代。截至目前，该案调查重点主要集中在许家印的妻子丁玉梅和前首席执行官夏海钧身上。许家印于2023年被拘留，此后当局对其处以4700万元人民币的罚款，并指控其“组织实施欺诈”。

One recent filing to the court claimed that Xia Haijun, who was fined $2 million and banned from financial markets by a top Chinese regulator for securities fraud, is hiding assets worth $24 million in several houses and luxury cars in California.

近期提交给法院的一份文件显示，夏海钧利用在美国加利福尼亚州的多套房产和豪华汽车藏匿了价值2400万美元的资产，此前他因证券欺诈被中国最高监管机构罚款1500万元并被禁止进入金融市场。

前中国恒大集团首席执行官夏海钧，摄于2017年。一家中国最高监管机构对他处以1500万元的罚款，并禁止他进入金融市场。

One of those properties, in Irvine, is worth $6.3 million and was bought in April 2022, one month after Evergrande suddenly delayed its annual results for 2021 and said $2 billion in loans had been seized by banks, court documents show. Several months later, Mr. Xia resigned over what the company said had been a plan to funnel $2 billion into one of its Hong Kong listed companies from a subsidiary.

法庭文件显示，其中一处位于尔湾市的房产价值630万美元购买于2022年4月——而就在这之前的一个月，恒大集团突然宣布延迟披露2021年业绩，并表示其134亿存款质押被银行执行。数月后，夏海钧因“从一家子公司向其香港上市公司注入134亿元的计划”辞职。

Just a few months before Mr. Xia was fined in March 2024, his wife spent $14.5 million on a sprawling mansion in Newport Beach, according to court filings. He has told the court he does not own anything worth more than $6,400.

法庭文件还显示，2024年3月夏海钧被罚款几个月前，其妻斥资1450万美元在纽波特海滩购置了一套豪宅。但夏海钧向法庭声称，自己名下没有任何价值超过6400美元的资产。