{"id":118107,"date":"2021-07-13T10:01:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T10:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=118107"},"modified":"2021-07-13T10:01:45","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T10:01:45","slug":"self-censorship-expected-as-hong-kong-book-fair-held-under-national-security-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/self-censorship-expected-as-hong-kong-book-fair-held-under-national-security-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-censorship expected as Hong Kong book fair held under national security law"},"content":{"rendered":"

HONG KONG (Reuters) – For the first time, veteran Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Pang will not display any political books at his booth as the global financial hub holds its first book fair since the event began in 1990 under a new national security law.<\/p>

FILE PHOTO: A man reads a book at independent bookstore “Hong Kong Reader”, in Hong Kong, China June 23, 2020. REUTERS\/Tyrone Siu<\/figcaption>

Cancelled last year due to the coronavirus, the book fair resumes this week amid warnings from authorities against \u201csubversive\u201d or \u201cseparatist\u201d books, two vaguely defined crimes in the security law introduced in June 2020.<\/p>\n

In 2019, a unit of Pang\u2019s Sub-Culture Ltd displayed Chan Yun-chi\u2019s \u201c6430\u201d, a book of interviews with survivors of the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on democracy activists in Beijing.<\/p>\n

This year, he would have liked to display Bruce Lam\u2019s award-winning \u201cPost-80s Movement,\u201d which documents Hong Kong\u2019s youngest protesters, and \u201cA Sea of People,\u201d by former legislator Claudia Mo, who was arrested under the new law and denied bail.<\/p>\n

But Pang, who has participated in every book fair since it began, said he wanted to \u201cavoid trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had no such worries before,\u201d he told Reuters. \u201cIt is the first time in 32 years that we undergo such self-censorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just the publishing industry that has problems. It\u2019s the freedom of society as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the organiser of the fair which draws about 1 million visitors each year, said books would not go through a vetting or censorship process, but exhibitors had to be \u201cself-disciplined.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there will be no books about politics, but books that violate Hong Kong law or the national security law should not be here,\u201d HKTDC deputy Executive Director Benjamin Chau told reporters.<\/p>\n

Since Beijing imposed the security law in Hong Kong in response to the city\u2019s 2019 mass pro-democracy protests, an authoritarian chill has dropped over most aspects of life in the city, including education, media, arts and culture.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the law say it has restored stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cDEATH SENTENCE\u201d<\/p>\n

This will be the first time The Umbrella Men – a group of anonymous writers with media backgrounds who have been publishing books chronicling the events of each year since the 2014 pro-democracy protests known as the Umbrella Movement – will not have their book displayed at the fair.<\/p>\n

Their 2020 year-in-review book would have focused on freedom of speech.<\/p>\n

Woody, one of the group\u2019s members who declined to give his last name due to the sensitivity of the matter, said their publisher, whom he did not name, told them on June 25 their book would not be published due to \u201cthe current situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The call came a day after pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily printed its last edition after police froze its assets and arrested its executives in a national security probe.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly our publisher finds out that … police can stop a company\u2019s daily operations by simply freezing their bank accounts \u2013 that means a death sentence,\u201d Woody said.<\/p>\n

Daniel Wong, who runs publisher Kind of Culture, said that despite concerns over the new law, he would continue to exhibit books with political content as he has done since 2012.<\/p>\n

He will display several books that touch on democracy protests, including \u201cChan Kin-man\u2019s Letters from Prison\u201d by the sociology professor who spent a year behind bars for his role in the 2014 demonstrations.<\/p>\n

Wong said his staff reviewed the books\u2019 content for anything that might \u201ccross the line\u201d but nothing struck him as illegal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s book fair of course is very special,\u201d Wong said. \u201cWe do it cautiously, there are many uncertainties that we cannot control. We\u2019ll see what happens in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HONG KONG (Reuters) – For the first time, veteran Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Pang will not display any political books at his booth as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":118106,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nSelf-censorship expected as Hong Kong book fair held under national security law - Fin2me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/self-censorship-expected-as-hong-kong-book-fair-held-under-national-security-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Self-censorship expected as Hong Kong book fair held under national security law - Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HONG KONG (Reuters) – For the first time, veteran Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Pang will not display any political books at his booth as the [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/self-censorship-expected-as-hong-kong-book-fair-held-under-national-security-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-13T10:01:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Self-censorship-expected-as-Hong-Kong-book-fair-held-under-national-security-law.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/self-censorship-expected-as-hong-kong-book-fair-held-under-national-security-law\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/self-censorship-expected-as-hong-kong-book-fair-held-under-national-security-law\/\",\"name\":\"Self-censorship expected as Hong Kong book fair held under national security law - 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