The Mystery of the Disappearing Hong Kong Booksellers

Hong Kong.

Technically considered to be a part of China, the little island territory was released from British control on July 1st, 1997 through a joint declaration signed by the People's Republic of China's Prime Minister, Zhao Ziyang, and the United Kingdom's Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Through a "one country, two systems" agreement, it was decided that Hong Kong would keep it's capitalist and democratic system of governance in place for 50 years. As of the start of 2016, it has been less than 19 years since that agreement took effect, and Hong Kong residents are worried that their way of life is being encroached upon by mainland China.

George Arents Collection, The New York Public Library. "Hong Kong." New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 19, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-56c1-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

On November 6th, 2015, the US-funded Radio Free Asia reported that four people linked to a controversial Hong Kong publishing company were missing, believed to be detained by mainland Chinese authorities. Owner Gui Minhai (51, Swedish citizen), general manager Lu Bo (45), store manager Lin Rongji (60), and staff member Zhang Zhiping (32) of publishing company and bookstore Sage Communications* had all gone missing. 

Lu and Zhang went missing around October 22nd-24th after visiting their families on mainland China and Gui went missing mid-October after visiting his vacation home in Thailand. Lin used to sleep in the bookstore a lot, so his wife didn't know when exactly he went missing. Their wives heard from them on November 6th, but their whereabouts and conditions and reasons for being "delayed" remained unknown. A fifth employee, Lee Bo (65 and a British citizen) went missing on December 30th 2015 according to the BBC.

Sage Communications is known for publishing controversial political material that is critical of mainland Chinese politics. According to The Guardian, "Recent titles include The Collapse of Xi Jinping in 2017, Hu Jintao’s Plot Against Xi Jinping, and a book allegedly penned by the former mistress of China’s disgraced security chief Zhou Yongkang, who was sentenced to life in prison in June." Before disappearing, Sage Communications was working on a new book that would have either been called The Lovers of Xi Jinping or Xi Jinping and His Six Women according to Willy Wo-lap Lam, an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which has still yet to be published.

Politically critical books like these are allowed in Hong Kong through their Basic Law which allows for freedom of speech unlike on mainland China. This is a large part of their "one country, two systems" design. Despite this, Hong Kong publishers and writers of controversial material have previously been targeted by mainland Chinese authorities.

For example, in October 2013, Hong Kong publisher Yiu Mantin (73) was taken in by mainland authorities when he traveled to next-door Shenzhen (on the mainland). He was the chief editor of the Morning Bell Press and had been working on a book called Chinese Godfather Xi Jinping in collaboration with US author Yu Jie. In May 2014 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "smuggling ordinary goods." 

But detaining and charging dissenters when they step on to the mainland (or apparently Thailand and Malaysia) isn't the only modus operandi for the mainland government. In early 2015, the Liaison's Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong acquired control over 80% of the Hong Kong publishing industry through the purchase of Sino United Publishing. With the largest publisher now within their financial control, they seemed to have banned their booksellers from selling material related to Hong Kong independence and many other controversial publications disappeared off of shelves. Almost more concerning than government bans on controversial material is residents worry about self-censorship. Page One is a Singapore based bookstore with locations in Hong Kong. They are not owned or run by Sino United Publishing, but books banned in the mainland that concern President Xi disappeared off their shelves in early January 2016.

The disappearances are also making international waves. British officials have raised concern over the disappearance of Lee Bo, who holds a British passport. However they were rebuked by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that he is "first and foremost a Chinese citizen." As for Gui, the Swedish citizen, Voice of America News reported "Gui's daughter told VOA the Swedish foreign ministry is trying to find him. 'They've got a designated person to work on the case, and they're keeping me updated as they're getting more information,' she said." US officials also share concerns, "'We are disturbed by reports of the disappearances,' U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told a regular news briefing. 'We share the concern of the people of Hong Kong regarding these disappearances.'"

Finally, on January 17th, 2016, Gui shockingly reappeared on Chinese state television admitting guilt to an 11 year old hit-and-run incident. However netizens quickly noticed that the color of his undershirt changes at times throughout the video, prompting concerns that his confession had been given under duress and at different times, the clips being edited together later.

These incidents and the disappearances of the five men have increased concerns among Hong Kong residents about the safety of their freedom of press and their "one country, two systems" principle. Senior writer at the South China Morning Press Alex Lo expressed his concerns by writing, "The government must quickly get to the bottom of the case. The midnight knock on the door is not something we have had to worry about in Hong Kong. But if we do now, that would be the end of our way of life." Student activist Agnes Chow who became a prominent figure during the 2014 Umbrella Revolution protests also spoke out in a video about the recent disappearance of Lee Bo, saying "In the past, we were safe because we lived in Hong Kong instead of mainland China. However, the circumstances have changed,"

An Urgent Cry from Hong Kong

身 在 日 本 膽 粗 粗 錄 左 條 英 文 片 ， 沒 咩 準 備 、 背 稿 ， 抱 歉 。 我 只 係 覺 得 今 次 ， 國 際 關 注 係 好 重 要 。"Hong Kong is not Hong Kong anymore, it is NAMED as Hong Kong only."An Urgent Cry from Hong KongI am Agnes Chow, a member of Scholarism, a student activists organization from Hong Kong. I have an important message that I hope to spread to the world which is related to a bookseller who suddenly disappeared and had been abducted to Mainland.A Hong Kong bookseller named Lee Bo who sold books criticizing the Communist Party of China and banned political books suddenly went missing weeks after four of his associates disappeared strangely. The Causeway Bay Bookstore, the bookstore established by Lee in 1994, is popular among mainland tourists as they can buy political books which are banned in their hometown.On 30th December 2015, Lee was supposed to collect books from a warehouse at around 5:30pm. However, he was out of contact and could not be found even his wife arrived the warehouse, looking for him at 8:00pm. About 10:00, his wife received a call from her husband from Shenzhen. Lee used Mandarin unusually rather than Cantonese, and told his wife that he had temporarily gone back to cooperate with the investigation, ‘They want me to assist the investigation, if I cooperate, it may be alright." Lee called his wife again soon to notice her that "you may already know what's going on" and "don't make the news public”.With the protection of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hongkongers are able to obtain personal safety and basic human rights under rule of law. Even some of the Hongkongers acted as dissents to voice out their disagreement towards the Communist Party of China, they would not face penalties. Unlike the mainland China, Hong Kong did not adopt authoritarian governance. Citizens who sell politically sensitive books were not supposed to be suppressed by any threats of ‘disappearance’ and imprisonment with the existence of freedom of press and speech. In the past, we were safe because we lived in Hong Kong instead of the mainland China. However, the circumstances have changed with the abduction which was suspected to be done by the police in China towards this bookseller who kept being low profile before. Lee’s wife has reported her husband’s missing to the Hong Kong Police Force but still no one could contact Lee since 4 days before. With no departure record of Lee, and his Home Return Permit Card is left at his home in Hong Kong, it can be speculated that the police from the mainland organized cross-border arrest to threaten people in Hong Kong. If the above speculation is true, it indicates the erosion of "one country, two system" in the Basic Law of Hong Kong.The reason for me to film this video is to raise the global awareness of this serious issue happened in Hong Kong, and I hope that more and more foreign medias can keep their attention and coverage on this white terror incident. We feel that Hong Kong is not Hong Kong anymore, it is NAMED as Hong Kong only. The most worrying thing finally happened. This incident evoke me the famous statement written by Pastor Martin in the 1950s.“First they came for the activists, and I did not speak out. Because I was not an activist. Then they came for the journalists, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a journalist. Then they came for the bookseller, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a bookseller. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”I hope everyone in the world who believes in universal values of freedom and human rights could stand up and speak for this incident to stop the political suppression.Even I am also afraid of my personal safety after this incident happened, I still believe we should continuously fight for freedom from fear because it is an important core value that we should uphold . Let us stand up to show our discontent on this abduction and stop the further suppression to political dissents in Hong Kong.

Posted by 周庭 Agnes Chow Ting on Saturday, January 2, 2016

Protests against mainland China's interference in Hong Kong's democracy had already reached a peak earlier in 2014. The Umbrella Revolution protest started with university students and led to a shutdown of Hong Kong's entire financial district as residents camped out for weeks. While those encampments have long since dispersed, smaller protests continue frequently, now referencing the five missing booksellers.

Protesters didn't forget Yiu Man-tin (left), HK publisher sentenced to 10 yrs in China for "smuggling paint" pic.twitter.com/x5tJ8oGyZA

— Venus Wu (@wu_venus) January 3, 2016

It is yet unclear where all this will lead, and whether or not Hong Kong's special "one country, two systems" situation will last the full 50 years. 

*Nearly all early reports in November call the publication company "Sage Communications" and the bookstore "Sage Books". However later the names inexplicably change to "Mighty Current" or "Causeway Bay Publications" and "Causeway Bay Bookstore". Causeway Bay is a place in Hong Kong. If anyone has an explanation for this mix of names, I would be very grateful.

Quick show notes: Hello everyone, this is Miriam, the creator of the For Your Consideration page. It's been just over two years since FYC was started now and finally I'm happy to start trying to provide greater context to the stories I share for you on a separate blog. Keep engaged and please let me know what you think or if I ever get anything wrong. I am merely an extremely curious year of the monkey Bio/Econ major undergraduate student, basically the complete opposite of infallible. Also I love engaging with my readers!