China Starts Trial of Vanished Canadian-Chinese Billionaire

HONG KONG—A Canadian-Chinese billionaire is standing trial in mainland China more than five years after he mysteriously disappeared from Hong Kong, marking progress in a protracted case that has baffled the country’s business community.

A trial of Xiao Jianhua, a politically connected financier who once boasted vast holdings from insurance to beet farming, was due to take place on Monday, said a spokeswoman for the Canadian Embassy in Beijing.