Australian businesswoman Charlotte Chou has been freed from a Chinese jail after serving more than six years.

It is understood she was released from a Guangzhou prison, in China’s south, on Saturday morning.

Ms Chou was accused of embezzling funds from a private school she helped found in China, the South China Institute of Software Engineering, Fairfax Media reports.

But her supporters said a former minority shareholder in the company had used influence with officials to have her jailed in a bid to gain control of the school.

She was reportedly first arrested by Chinese authorities in 2008.

Ms Chou was released after serving 18 months in jail on bribery convictions, only to be immediately re-arrested at the prison gate on charges of embezzling millions of yuan from the software engineering school.

She has maintained the money was merely repayments of a properly documented loan.

Ms Chou is reportedly preparing to return to Sydney.