Guangzhou: Australian entrepreneur Charlotte Chou has walked free from a Guangzhou jail after six-and-a-half years, in an emotional end to one of a series of murky cases involving Chinese-Australians detained in China.

As firecrackers thundered in the background in celebration, Ms Chou emerged from behind a blue cast-iron gate at the Guangzhou No.1 Detention Centre on Saturday morning – and was immediately swamped by family and friends – including her son Cleon, 19, a university student in Beijing, her sister Fiona Zou and 21-year-old daughter Chloe, who both flew in from Sydney.

Hard times: Charlotte Chou requested a beanie for her release as her hair had turned almost completely grey during her years in prison. Credit:Sanghee Liu

Ms Chou will now wait for her travel documents to be processed before returning to Sydney, where she will be reunited with her youngest son Lincoln for the first time since she was first led away by police in mid-2008 – while the then one-year-old was asleep in their Guangzhou home.

As well as the personal toll, Ms Chou has lost the successful business she helped build, in a case mired in controversy involving feuding business partners and allegations of judicial bribery. It is just one of a number of cases involving Chinese Australians embroiled in legal trouble in China that have highlighted the risks of doing business in China and prompted official representation from the highest levels of Australian government.