Entrepreneurs squirm under Xi Jinping's tightening grip

China is showing signs that it is aware of unease in the private sector

Guo Junwen was a successful property developer in southwestern China when the authorities threw him behind bars three years ago on charges involving land use and seized his business.

Now free, Guo — who still disputes the charges — says the police are refusing to return money they still owe him under Chinese law.

“They said, ‘We have no choice, Old Guo,’” Guo said in a telephone interview from the Indonesian island of Batam, where he lives part time. “‘We have no fight against you, but this is what the higher-ups want.’”

China’s relationship with entrepreneurs like Guo, already complicated, has become strained.