The case of Yan Suiling and how $2 million worth of Chinese money ended up in Hong Kong offers a look at how the former British colony serves as a legal safe haven for getting wealth out of Chinese mainland.

严穗陵一案以及价值200万美元的人民币最终如何流入香港让我们得以近观一个现象，即香港这个前英国殖民地如何成为资金流出中国内地的合法避风港。

Ms. Yan, who was convicted in Hong Kong in 2010 of money laundering and spent time in a Hong Kong prison, was exonerated earlier this year based on her argument that her actions while illegal under Chinese law are legal in Hong Kong. (See the appeals decision here.)

严穗陵2010年在香港被判洗钱罪名成立，并在香港一家监狱服刑。今年早些时候她被免除了这一罪名，因为她提出，其行为虽然根据内地法律属于违法，但在香港是合法的。

She was moving money across the border using an underground money transfer agency, a type of institution that is illegal on the mainland. But Hong Kong's highest courts view these operators ─ sometimes known as remittance agents ─ as a legal part of the free-market fabric of the former British colony, where capital movements are almost completely unfettered.

严穗陵通过一家地下钱庄将资金从内地转移出境。在中国内地，运营地下钱庄属非法行为，但香港高等法院认为这些地下钱庄（有时也被称作汇款代理人）是香港这个前英国殖民地自由市场体系的合法组成。在香港，资本流动几乎不受约束。

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