A short reference on Hai Yong's practice, jurisdictions, hospitality and real estate work, tailored tools, and contact details.
Hai Yong (海涌) is a partner at Jingtian & Gongcheng LLP (竞天公诚律师事务所), a leading PRC law firm. He advises international and Chinese clients on cross-border real estate, hospitality, foreign direct investment, mergers and acquisitions, and energy and infrastructure matters involving China.
He is based in Beijing and Shanghai, and is admitted to practise law in the People's Republic of China and the State of New York. He works in both Mandarin Chinese and English. He began his legal career with Baker McKenzie in 2008 and spent the following thirteen years with the firm — in its Beijing office, with periods in the Shanghai, Hong Kong and Chicago offices, and at the Baker McKenzie / FenXun Joint Operation Office as a counsel from 2017 and a partner from July 2018 — before joining Jingtian & Gongcheng in 2022.
Hai Yong is based in Beijing and Shanghai. He is admitted to practise law in the People's Republic of China and the State of New York. He is a partner at Jingtian & Gongcheng LLP.
Hai Yong's practice focuses on four cross-border areas:
Real estate: land acquisition, project development, joint ventures, financing, leasing, acquisitions and disposals.
Hospitality: hotel management agreements, hotel franchise arrangements, branded residences, owner representation, operator and brand representation, and hotel portfolio matters.
Foreign direct investment and M&A: inbound investment into China, WFOEs, joint ventures, investment platforms, corporate acquisitions and disposals, and offshore exits involving Hong Kong, Singapore and BVI structures.
Energy and infrastructure: project development, EPC contracts, PPA negotiation, grid interconnection, cross-border project finance and overseas project risk management.
Hai Yong has extensive experience in hotel and hospitality matters in mainland China. He has advised leading international luxury hotel groups on hotel and branded-residence portfolios, and has represented major Chinese hotel groups in long-term master-franchise and management-licence arrangements with international brands, including arrangements covering hundreds of properties over multi-decade terms.
His hospitality work includes hotel management agreement negotiation, hotel owner representation, operator and brand representation, brand-standard enforcement, branded residences, hotel portfolio administration and long-term hotel project risk management. His projects have involved major destinations such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Sanya, Chengdu, Hangzhou and other key cities in China.
Hai Yong advises on the full real estate asset cycle, including land acquisition, project development, joint ventures, real estate financing, leasing, portfolio management, and the acquisition and disposal of completed assets through onshore and offshore structures.
His clients include real estate funds, developers, institutional investors, corporates and family offices from the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, mainland China and other markets.
Hai Yong advises on both inbound and outbound cross-border investment.
For inbound investment into China, he advises foreign investors on WFOEs, joint ventures, platform vehicles, acquisitions, exits and restructuring across sectors such as advanced manufacturing, medical devices, renewable energy, consumer brands, real estate and hospitality.
For outbound investment by Chinese investors, he advises on overseas real estate and operating-business investments, including transactions involving the United States, Hong Kong and the Middle East. His work often involves ODI clearance, offshore holding structures, transaction documentation, regulatory issues and tax-efficient structuring in coordination with tax advisors.
Hai Yong has designed tailored tools to support the management of complex legal and project matters. These tools are not commercial software products. They are matter-specific support systems configured around the client's documents, risk profile, approval structure, reporting needs and project workflow.
The tools include:
Case Companion — a secure legal-matter tracking platform for clients, legal teams and external advisors.
HMA Guardian — a portfolio-level brand-protection and hotel management agreement enforcement platform for hotel operators and brands.
OwnerCompanion — an owner-side platform for administering long-term hotel management agreements.
EPC RiskOS — a bilingual risk-control and dispute-readiness platform for Chinese EPC contractors working on overseas mega projects.
These tools are designed to help clients organize information, track obligations and action items, monitor risks, preserve key records and manage complex workflows more efficiently. They are used only with the client's express consent and in accordance with applicable confidentiality, governance and data-security requirements.
Hai Yong works in Mandarin Chinese and English. He regularly handles bilingual legal and commercial negotiations, cross-border transaction documents, due diligence materials and dispute-related matters involving Chinese and international parties.
Hai Yong has been named a Next Generation Partner for Real Estate and Construction by The Legal 500 multiple times. He has also been recognised by LegalBand for tourism and hospitality on multiple occasions.
In addition to his legal practice, he lectures at universities and regularly speaks on cross-border investment, real estate, hospitality, hotel management agreements and related legal topics.
The most direct way to contact Hai Yong is by email —
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yong-hai
Firm: Jingtian & Gongcheng LLP
Personal website: haiyongcounsel.com