Cheng Muyang (; born 14 November 1969), also known as Michael Ching and Ching Mo-yeung, is a Chinese businessman and

property developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...

based in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. His father,

Cheng Weigao Cheng Weigao ( zh, c=程维高; September 1933 – December 28, 2010) was a Chinese politician, best known for his term as the Party Secretary of Hebei province between 1993 and 1998. In his late career, Cheng was expelled from the Chinese C ...

, is a high-ranking Chinese politician. In 1996, he was granted permanent residency in

, and he has applied for

refugee status A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

to flee political persecution from the Chinese government.

Biography

Cheng Muyang was born on November 14, 1969, as one of three children and the only son of

, who at the time was the head of a tractor factory in

Changzhou Changzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling, and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Zhen ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

Province. The elder Cheng was known for his role as the Communist Party Secretary of

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

province between 1993 and 1998. Ching attended Zhengzhou Industrial College in

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan, China. Located in northern Henan, it is one of the nine National central city, national central cities in China, and serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational center of the province. Th ...

, the capital of

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

. He later acquired permanent residence in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, and in 1996, he was granted permanent residency in Canada. Michael Ching was accused by the Chinese government of having taken illicit commissions for a business deal using his father for political backing. Michael Ching moved to Canada in 2000, shortly before the Hebei procuratorate issued his arrest warrant. In 2006, the Chinese Central Commission for Discipline Inspection concluded that there was no evidence for criminal punishment of Cheng Weigao. After moving to

, Canada in July 2000, he founded a land development company called Mo Yeung International. In 2002, he founded Sunwins which is a real estate development company in Vancouver. In 2012, Michael Ching received the Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2013, Michael Ching's application for Canadian citizenship was rejected, and as of 2015, his bid for refugee status was denied. Ching denied all allegations and sued the Canadian government for $1.75 million (CAD) for conspiring against him. In July 2015, a Canadian federal judge ordered that Ching’s bid for refugee status be reconsidered. According to the judge, Justice Yvan Roy, the refugee panel that denied Ching’s application relied too heavily on Chinese court findings that had little or no evidence of illegal activity. As of September 2016,

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

no longer listed Ching as an international fugitive and deleted its "red notice" for him. Ching has filed legal action against the

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

and its reporter in the British Columbia Supreme Court for defamation and false statements. After 15 years fighting, in December 2020, Michael Ching received his Canadian citizenship.

Residency

In 1996, he was granted permanent residency in Canada. He has applied for

as protection from political persecution after being considered a fugitive of law by the Chinese government along with his father,

, a high-ranking Chinese politician.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Muyang 1969 births Living people Chinese business executives Chinese emigrants to Canada Businesspeople from Vancouver Canadian businesspeople in real estate Businesspeople from Changzhou Refugees in Canada Chinese refugees Real estate and property developers