I believed Chinese investors were buying real estate abroad in order to hide their assets from the Chinese government- if that's the case, why is the Chinese government mad about foreign property purchase rules?
Because maybe the CCP elite wouldn't be able to buy property themselves. These restrictions are pretty ineffective anyway. There are similar regulations in Canada, and what we're seeing is that local realtors (who are residents/citizens) will buy the property on their behalf. This is also illegal, but much harder to regulate.