Hong Kong public libraries should disclose books pulled from shelves, give reasons for censorship so authors can appeal: government adviser; South China Morning Post, May 17, 2023

Natalie Wongand Jeffie Lam, South China Morning Post; Hong Kong public libraries should disclose books pulled from shelves, give reasons for censorship so authors can appeal: government adviser

"Hong Kong’s public libraries should establish a mechanism for disclosing books pulled from their shelves and explain the reasons for the decision to allow authors of censored titles a chance to appeal, a government adviser has said.

Chui Yat-hung, who sits on the Public Libraries Advisory Committee, on Wednesday also said that books about local social movements should not be censored if they were factual accounts of political events, rather than subjective ones.

“They are history after all,” he told a radio programme.

Hours after Chui made the remarks, members of the 23-strong committee were told by its secretariat to refrain from speaking to the media, the Post learned.

The lack of transparency in the ongoing action by the city’s public library operator to root out works contrary to national security also sparked concerns among educators."

The lack of transparency in the ongoing action by the city’s public library operator to root out works contrary to national security also sparked concerns among educators.

Tiananmen books disappear from Hong Kong library shelves; Aljazeera, May 18, 2023

 Aljazeera; Tiananmen books disappear from Hong Kong library shelves

"Hong Kong must not “recommend books with unhealthy ideas”, the territory’s leader John Lee has said, after it emerged books related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown had been removed from public libraries.

The discovery was made after a prominent political cartoonist – whose work often satirised Hong Kong’s relationship with mainland China – was suspended indefinitely from publishing in a mainstream newspaper, and had his books removed from the city’s libraries."

Democracy activists' books unavailable in Hong Kong libraries after new law; Reuters, July 5, 2020

Reuters; Democracy activists' books unavailable in Hong Kong libraries after new law

"Books by prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy figures have become unavailable in the Chinese-ruled city’s public libraries as they are being reviewed to see whether they violate a new national security law, a government department said on Sunday. 

The sweeping legislation, which came into force on Tuesday night at the same time its contents were published, punishes crimes related to secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with punishments of up to life in prison.

Hong Kong public libraries “will review whether certain books violate the stipulations of the National Security Law,” the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which runs the libraries, said in a statement.

“While legal advice will be sought in the process of the review, the books will not be available for borrowing and reference in libraries.""

China's Great Firewall descends on Hong Kong internet users; The Guardian, July 8, 2020

Lily Kuo, The Guardian; China's Great Firewall descends on Hong Kong internet users

Residents rush to erase digital footprints as law gives police powers over online activity

"But Hongkongers, accustomed to decades of unrestricted access to information, may not be so easily deterred. Since Beijing announced its plan in late May to enforce the security law, searches and purchases of virtual private networks (VPNs) and proxies to hide IP addresses have soared.

Many have migrated from Telegram to the encrypted messaging app Signal, and some residents have turned to sim cards from providers in other countries. Kwong says it is not just young protesters who are taking action – her parents recently moved their family group chat to Signal.

“People are indeed kind of panicked and trying to install VPNs and have no idea what it can and cannot help,” said Low, noting that volunteers have been holding workshops to teach residents how to use such tools and how to better protect themselves.

“I have faith in Hong Kong people. They will not forget about the freedom we once had.”"

Madeleine Thien: ‘In China, you learn a lot from what people don’t tell you’; Guardian, 10/8/16

Claire Armitstead, Guardian; Madeleine Thien: ‘In China, you learn a lot from what people don’t tell you’ :

"Do Not Say We Have Nothing makes the surprising suggestion that part of the solution might lie in the act of copying. The different generations of Marie and Ai-Ming’s families are connected by the manuscript of a novel, “The Book of Records”, chapters of which have been carefully copied out, hidden in walls and beneath floorboards, and passed from hand to hand. “The Book of Records” is precious because it represents a narrative that doesn’t conform to the approved version of Chinese history, Thien explains. “It’s a book with no beginning, no middle and no end, in which the characters are seeing an alternative China where they recognise mirrors of themselves and which they write themselves into.”...

This latest crackdown is yet another variation on the long-running theme of suppression of the individual, making it highly unlikely that either of her mature novels will be published in mainland China, though she hopes they may yet be in Hong Kong. It doesn’t seem too far-fetched to describe them as her own Books of Records, embodying the difficult business of remaining imaginatively free while honouring “contested history”."

China Indicates Fate of 3 Missing Hong Kong Booksellers; Reuters via Voice of America, 2/4/16

Reuters via Voice of America; China Indicates Fate of 3 Missing Hong Kong Booksellers:

"Chinese police have confirmed for the first time that three of five Hong Kong booksellers who went missing were being investigated for "illegal activities" in China, according to a letter sent to Hong Kong's police Thursday.

The disappearances have prompted fears that mainland Chinese authorities may be using shadowy tactics that erode the "one country, two systems" formula under which Hong Kong has been governed since its return to China from British rule in 1997."

China faces diplomatic crisis over missing Hong Kong booksellers; Reuters via Japan Times, 2/7/16

Greg Torode, Reuters via Japan Times; China faces diplomatic crisis over missing Hong Kong booksellers:

"For years Gui Minhai, a China-born publisher of tabloid books on China’s leaders, had believed he could live and work overseas on a Swedish passport without fear of persecution by Chinese authorities, which ban such works on the mainland.

However, his disappearance from Thailand last October and his tearful appearance last month on Chinese state television have undermined confidence among some diplomats in the protections afforded to hundreds of thousands of holders of foreign passports in Hong Kong and China.

Reuters has confirmed that at least eight governments — including Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States — have in private raised concerns with Chinese officials, saying that detaining Gui and his associates breaches the “one country, two systems” formula under which Hong Kong has been governed since its return to China."

A Chilling Phone Call Adds to Hurdles of Publishing Xi Jinping Book; New York Times, 2/19/14

Chris Buckley, New York Times; A Chilling Phone Call Adds to Hurdles of Publishing Xi Jinping Book:

"The exiled writer Yu Jie takes a bleak view of President Xi Jinping of China. In his latest book, still awaiting publication, Mr. Yu describes Mr. Xi as a thuggish politician driven by a dangerous compound of Maoist nostalgia and authoritarian, expansionist impulses.

No wonder Mr. Yu’s jeremiad, “Godfather of China Xi Jinping,” has no chance of appearing in mainland Chinese bookstores. But Mr. Yu, who lives in Virginia, has said plans to publish the book have encountered worrisome hurdles in Hong Kong, the self-administered territory that preserved a robust tradition of free speech after returning to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. One Hong Kong publisher who planned to issue the book was arrested when he visited mainland China, and now a second has abandoned plans to publish it after receiving a menacing phone call, Mr. Yu said."