South Beauty owner sought by court

South Beauty Group president Wang Xiaofei denied Tuesday that his mother Zhang Lan was deliberately avoiding a court appearance over a property dispute with her former partner.

Chaoyang district court said Monday in a press release that Zhang had allegedly revoked her hukou (household registration) to avoid a summons in a lawsuit filed by Ma Yi, the original co-founder of the group along with Zhang.　

The court sent summonses to her home and her company, but they were returned in September.

Zhang's local police station confirmed to the court that she had canceled her hukou on September 17.

"Currently, there are two alternative conditions for the cancellation of a hukou. The hukou owner must have either changed his or her nationality or is dead," Yang Chunxiang, from Beijing Long An Law Office, told the Global Times.

"But since the property dispute is in China, the Chinese court can summon a defendant even if the defendant has a foreign nationality," he said.

Yang noted that the cancellation of a hukou mainly brings problems to the court because it is difficult to send a summons, and therefore slows down the process. Some judges might not even be bothered to try to reach the defendant in a civil case if it is too difficult to trace them, said Yang.

"The court should use every possible way to contact Zhang's company, her relatives and the local police station of Zhang's residence," he said.

Wang posted on his Sina microblog Tuesday that there was no mystery to the disappearance of his mother, and they are not avoiding contact with Ma.　

"We've been in touch with Ma all the time and coordinated with the corresponding government bureau to deal with the case," he posted. He also noted that Zhang is now receiving medical treatment for an inflamed knee in hospital.

"She has not mysteriously disappeared [as some believe]," he wrote.

The dispute goes back to 2004 when Ma resigned his partnership with Zhang over health reasons. At that time, Zhang signed two contracts concerning a compensation package for Ma, according to the court's press release.

The contract included the transfer and continuing mortgage payments of a property at Lanchoumingzuo Compound in Chaoyang district for Ma, who has lived in the house since then. Ma sued Zhang after she failed to sign the property over to him after the mortgage was paid off, the court said.

The South Beauty Group includes holdings such as the South Beauty Sichuan restaurant chain and the LAN Club.