Geng

INTRODUCTION

Respondent Shandong Oriental Ocean Group Company, Ltd. (SOOG), a Chinese company, borrowed a sizeable sum of money from appellant Xuan Geng, a resident of Irvine, in 2017. The parties executed a short and somewhat cryptic agreement under which SOOG would have to repay interest on the principal on a yearly basis. After making one payment in 2018, SOOG failed to make any more payments, and appellant filed suit in Orange County Superior Court. SOOG filed a motion to quash summons, arguing, among other things, that it did not have any connection with California and lacked minimum contacts for personal jurisdiction. The trial court agreed and entered SOOG’s dismissal. We reverse.

FACTS

Shi Che and Zhiyuan Che are father and son, respectively, and Chinese citizens. They own and control SOOG, a Chinese corporation with its principal place of business in Yantai City, China.1 Appellant lives in Irvine. Appellant’s husband, David Hsiu, and Shi Che have been friends for many years, and the two families are close. As a matter of fact, Shi Che had given appellant’s daughter, Nancy Hsiu, power of attorney in 2014 to manage an investment property he purchased in Irvine at 65…