Man Group China chairwoman Li Yifei finally reappears in public claiming she's been at a Taoist retreat

A week after the reported disappearance of Li Yifei, chairwoman of hedge fund Man Group China who reappeared in the public view via a post on Weibo and an interview given to mainland media outlet Caixin, there seem to be more questions than answers on the entire episode.

While some mainland media linked Li's disappearance with investigations into Citic Securities, Li and her husband have offered varying accounts to the media on her disappearance, adding to the confusion.

Li's husband Wang Chaoyong had been quoted as saying Li had gone to London as well as attending meetings with local "relevant regulatory authorities". In his first phone interview with the South China Morning Post on September 1, he said that Li was away at a conference on capital markets development and regulation.

At the time he said: "There are foreign as well as domestic institutions participating in this meeting. In Hong Kong, it is normal for regulatory conferences to go on for days."

"I am a CEO. She is a CEO, too. It is quite normal we don't see each other for days. I don't understand the source of all these new rumours," he said at the time.

On Sunday, Wang told the Post that Li had spent the previous week in meetings and that the couple had been visiting Sichuan to take a break.

In an interview with Caixin magazine the same day, Li said she was visiting a Taoist retreat after attending an industry conference.

"The meeting is already finished," Wang said. "We were together these last few days to have a holiday."

Li said on her microblog that she "had a good rest" during the break.

Man Investments declined to comment but sources close to Man, one of the world's largest hedge funds, denied the company's involvement with any official investigation in China.

Responding to mainland press reports that she had been questioned over her alleged involvement in certain trading activities, Li told Caixin: "Out of the question. Who would have the gall to short China's markets?"

Man Investments is an investment adviser to a Citic Securities product under its AHL brand. The company is one of many foreign brands with which Citic has business relationships.

The fund is estimated to have 1 billion yuan (HK$1.2 billion) in assets under management.