Publishing veterans call on Hong Kong government to give assurances on press freedom
CELINE.GE@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Friday, 08 January, 2016, 7:00am
UPDATED : Friday, 08 January, 2016, 7:00am
Paul Tang of People's Recreation Community says it’s business as usual. Photo: Nora Tam
While a chill has yet to be felt in the sale of reading material banned on the mainland, veterans in the city’s publishing industry have called on the Hong Kong government to give assurances that press freedom will be upheld.
This came as the mysterious disappearance of bookseller Lee Bo continued to raise fears.
READ MORE: Police mobilise in neighbourhood where missing Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo was last seen
“It’s business as usual,”said Paul Tang, owner of People’s Recreation Community, a bookshop and cafe in the city’s bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay that sells sensitive political publications banned by Beijing.
“I don’t see either more or fewer customers coming in after Lee’s disappearance made headlines,” he said.
Book and magazine titles such Mao: The Unknown Story and The Secret Emotional Life of Zhou Enlai, which are critical of the Chinese Communist Party, are piled up in prominent positions on shelves. Mainlanders look around, some browsing Chinese political periodicals and others trying to order books.
“We are not going to make adjustments to our selection of books as a result of the Lee incident,” said Tang. “We have not been restricting our offers for certain types of books for certain reasons.”
Posters of sensational books on the inner workings of Chinese politics and the private lives of government officials were seen on walls and windows in several other independent bookstores in Causeway Bay visited by Post reporters.
“I have not seen a shortage of these books,” said a news stand owner who was willing to be identified only as Billy. “There are still new volumes coming in.”
READ MORE: Hong Kong activists vow to lodge complaint with UN over missing booksellers
While politically sensitive publications are still prominently displayed in small news stands and bookstores, more retailers are now inclined to stay out of the public eye. “We don’t talk with the media right now,” said staff with Greenfield Books, a bookstore in Mong Kok specialising in selling publications banned on the mainland.
“We want the local government, especially the authorities overseeing the publishing industry, to come forward and reassure us that press freedom is safeguarded properly,”said Tam Wing-sze, executive editor with Chinese-language bi-monthly literary magazine Fleurs Des Lettres who signed a statement pledging to defend Hong Kong’s freedom of publication.
Another bookstore, Page One, which has eight outlets in the city and focuses on English-language publications, is understood to have begun withdrawing sensitive material from sale in late November.
“Lee Bo’s disappearance will not stop us from publishing,” said Rene Chiang of New Century Press, a publisher that prints many politically sensitive books.
“I don’t think people should voluntarily give up their right of freedom of speech when everything is unclear. But I’m worried that more bookstores may be hesitant to sell our books because of self-censorship,” he said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1898977/business-usual-sensitive-china-related-books-remain
