EMILY TSANG AND PHILA SIU
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 03 January, 2016, 1:26am
UPDATED : Sunday, 03 January, 2016, 1:36am
Exterior of Causeway Bay Books at Lockhart Road in Causeway Bay. Photo: Felix Wong
Selling books that are banned on the mainland is not uncommon in Hong Kong, in fact, the sale of books critical of the Chinese Communist Party to visiting mainlanders has developed into something of a cottage industry.
The sensitive reading material bought by visitors from across the border from these small, “upstairs” vendors is then smuggled into the mainland individually.
It remains a mystery why five people all connected to one particular bookstore specialising in banned publications – Causeway Bay Books – have disappeared in recent weeks.
A publishing industry insider told the Sunday Morning Post that a possible reason for them being singled out could be the organised and sustained shipment of books into the mainland.
“Obviously it is illegal to deliver these books into the mainland,” the source said.
One tactic that can be used, the source said, was wrapping the books with covers that make them look like romance novels to evade mainland customs inspections.
Paul Tang Tsz-keung, owner of People Book Cafe, a Causeway Bay bookstore that sells books banned on the mainland, said he was not worried about his personal safety because he was only a retailer – unlike the parent company of Causeway Bay Books, Mighty Current Media Company, which also publishes banned books.
He said he had been in contact with Lee Bo, a major shareholder in Causeway Bay Books, once or twice a month to get books from him. “We’re not close but he is a very friendly person,” Tang said.
If mainland enforcement agencies had kidnapped Lee from Hong Kong it would be “white terror”, he added.
“It would be quite scary if that is the case.”
Beijing has tightened controls on book publishers and ordered publications by authors from Hong Kong and Taiwan to go through a stricter approval process since 2014, after a directive was sent to all chief editors of major Chinese publishers to alert them of the changes.
On the mainland there have been many cases of publishers being detained after releasing books about the country’ s leaders or on sensitive issues.
In 2014, Yao Wentian, 73, a Hongkonger and chief editor of Morning Bell Press, was taken into custody after he was “lured” to Shenzhen on the pretence of delivering paint to a long-time friend, according to Yao’s wife.
He was at that time working to release a dissident’s book about President Xi Jinping (習近平).
In 2002, Hong Kong resident Lai Kwong-keung, who works in the import-export sector, faced trial on the mainland after trying to ship 16,280 copies of the New Testament Bible to a church in Fujian (福建).
Mystery of the missing five
2014: Lee Bo and Gui Minhai, a mainland-born Swedish national, buy Causeway Bookstore, which has been in business since 1994 October 2015: Three associates disappear: Mighty Current’s general manager Lui Bo, business manager Cheung Jiping, and manager Lam Wing-kei, after visiting Shenzhen separately
November: Gui Minhai disappears after going on holiday to Thailand
December 30: Lee Bo out of contact after going to warehouse of the publishing house in Chai Wan to collect books for a customer. His wife receives three phone calls from her husband that night from a number she thinks is from Shenzhen. He tells her in Putonghua that he is “assisting an investigation” and asks her not to make a big deal
January 1, 2016: Wife of Lee Bo reports husband missing to the police
Source: Lee Bo’s wife, Mrs Lee
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1897708/upstairs-trade-banned-books-cottage-industry
