In the early morning of January 19, 2021, the Court of Lingshui Li Autonomous County, Hainan Province as the court of the first instance completed the trial of the high-profile case of alleged illegal occupation of agricultural land by “Guomao Qingshuiwan” in Hainan. The case has been reported by many media including CCTV's News Probe, People's Daily Online, and BJNEWS, has caused extensive political and social influences, and has received widespread attention in China.

The case is a major and difficult case involving criminal, administrative, and civil matters. In the indictment, the developer Hainan Guomao Industrial Investment Co., Ltd. was accused of illegally using more than 800 mu of land. The pre-trial meeting and the trial lasted for 10 days. Li Zheng, the director of ZhongYin Law Firm, represented the first defendant, Liu XX, and Hou Jiyan, a partner of ZhongYin Law Firm, represented the defendant Zhao XX. The court has not pronounced any verdict.

It takes two years from case filing to a formal hearing of the case, which involves 11 defendants (including nine natural persons and two entities). Before the court session, ZhongYin did a lot of preparation work such as convening meetings, and making file review, and case analysis and discussion, and sorted out the complicated facts of the case; during the court session, ZhongYin put forward many arguments favorable to the defendants. ZhongYin Law Firm will continue keeping an eye on the latest developments of this case.