Would-be kidnappers broke into a Chinese billionaire's home and held him hostage over the weekend

• Five intruders held billionaire He Xiangjian hostage over the weekend, Bloomberg reports.
• He was only freed after his son escaped and swam across a river to alert authorities.
• Photos and videos on social media reportedly showed about a dozen police surrounding the mansion as He's residential community went on lockdown.
• He, 77, is the founder of appliance maker Midea Group and is worth about $23 billion.

Billionaire He Xiangjian — the founder of Midea Group, the world's largest appliance manfacturer — was held hostage by a group of five intruders from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning, Bloomberg's Venus Feng reports.

The intruders infiltrated his villa in the Foshan, Guangdong province, which is located within a residential golf resort. It comes equipped with checkpoints and 24-hour security booths; He also reportedly has a personal bodyguard.

Forbes reports that the billionaire was only released after his 55-year-old son, He Jianfeng, escaped and swam across a river, where he was able to alert authorities.

According to Yujing Liu and Iris Ouyang at the South China Morning Post, photos and videos on social media showed about a dozen police surrounding the two-story mansion. The residential community was put on lockdown, and Midea employees who work out of the company's headquarters were told not to go into work on Monday.

Ben Westcott at CNN reports that the police ultimately arrested five suspects after a standoff; no one was hurt.

"After receiving the report, the provincial, municipal, and district public security organs became highly concerned about the case and quickly organized police to rush to the scene," the police said in a statement, according to CNN.

He, who is 77 years old and worth about $23 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, founded the Midea Group in 1968. In 2012, he stepped down from operations of the company, but he still holds a seat on the board of directors.

Midea issued a statement thanking police, although they did not explicitly confirm that He was involved in the kidnapping attempt.

He is not the first Chinese billionaire to be targeted for kidnapping. Li Ka-shing — the richest man in Hong Kong — paid a $127.5 million ransom in 1996 after infamous Chinese mobster "Big Spender" Cheung Tze-keung kidnapped his son, Victor.