Hong Kong's independent bookstores, a refuge for Chinese readers, are under threat

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese university student Fleming Cheng found the political books he had only glimpsed online in a Hong Kong bookstore last year.

Before visiting Greenfield Book Store, Cheng had only managed to see the books' covers online after bypassing Beijing's internet censorship using a VPN. At the store, he picked up a title offering a critical account of China. He stood there devouring dozens of pages from another, about a pro-reform Chinese leader who fell from power for sympathizing with the protesters during the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement in 1989.

Cheng said he saw perspectives diverging from the mainland’s official narrative.

“A space of freedom,” he said.

Hong Kong's independent bookstores, many of them tucked away from busy streets inside buildings, have long offered a refuge and a window to a freer world for some mainland Chinese readers seeking ideas suppressed at home.

But these spaces now are under threat following a wave of bookseller arrests over alleged sedition under a 2024 national security law . Critics say their plight reflected the city’s broader crackdown on dissent that began after Beijing imposed a separate 2020 security law. Authorities say the two laws are vital to stability.

Greenfield was one of four bookstores targeted by police in just four months. Although bail was granted, the 50-year-old shop in July announced it would close at the end of its lease. Another bookstore, Have A Nice Stay, set up by former journalists, had announced plans to shut down Sunday, citing “elusive red lines” and financial challenges, even before its booksellers were arrested on the same day as Greenfield’s.

“If the Hong Kong government desperately tries to bring every aspect of the city into close alignment with the mainland, or even to the point where the two become indistinguishable, that would be a tremendous loss for us mainlanders too,” Cheng said.

Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to China in 1997, was once known for its freedoms of publication and expression.

But in 2015, bookseller Lam Wing-kee and four others affiliated with Causeway Bay Books disappeared. The store was known for selling politically sensitive titles. Lam later told reporters he was held by Chinese authorities, providing explosive details that contradicted official Chinese accounts. Gossipy books about Chinese politics soon dwindled on Hong Kong’s shelves.

After the 2020 security law, leading activists were arrested and civil society groups disbanded. Titles about the Tiananmen crackdown and works by pro-democracy politicians were pulled from public libraries . At the city’s annual book fair, some smaller book businesses were barred from exhibiting, and a pro-Beijing newspaper labeled an independent book fair a form of “soft resistance.”

Despite the pressure and increased official inspections, many pressed on, with some continuing to organize activities alongside selling books.

But the arrests hit Book Punch in March, Hunter Bookstore in June, and Greenfield and Have A Nice Stay in July. The authorities accused the booksellers of selling seditious publications, according to government statements and media reports.

Authorities say statements with “seditious intention” to incite hatred against or the overthrow of the governments of China and Hong Kong are prohibited. But they have not specified the books they consider as “seditious,” leaving observers to find clues in news reports quoting anonymous sources.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang said the law is clear about what constitutes seditious intent and reiterated there would be no banned book list. He said booksellers should ensure the titles they sell do not harm national security, just as those selling food need to ensure the food won’t cause a stomach ache or be poisonous.

A bookseller, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government retribution, said they struggled to judge what was seditious. Still, they became more cautious about whether to sell certain books on China's modern politics. Their landlord was also reviewing whether to continue to rent the space to them after being harassed.

In an emailed reply, the government condemned any “smearing” and false remarks regarding the work in safeguarding national security. It said the security laws clearly stipulate that human rights, freedoms of speech and publication should be protected.

The offenses linked to seditious intention expressly protect expression of opinions or even criticism against government policies, it said.

University student Iris Wang from neighboring Guangdong sensed tighter control over Hong Kong. To her, Hunter encouraged people to think, instead of just selling books like its mainland peers. She bought a postcard about being courageous and a manga there.

Some mainland readers also visit the stores for non-political reasons, such as for their niche books or simply for their calmness.

Hong Konger Brian Leung found companionship in independent bookstores, saying each had its own character. When arrests happened at the shops he visited, he said he felt something he cherished and that Hong Kong deserved was being rejected.

“Part of what I have grown used to in Hong Kong is lost again,” he said, adding that the bookshops have not “incited” him because readers can judge for themselves.

In Taiwan, widely seen as the freest publishing hub for Chinese-language books, some publishers have filled the gap as restrictions deepened in Hong Kong after the 2020 security law took effect. Some readers fear one day Taiwan cannot send books to Hong Kong as freely as before.

Taiwan’s publishers released six times as many books about Hong Kong between 2020 and 2024 as in the previous five years, according to Cheng Tsu-Bang, a sociology professor at Tunghai University in Taiwan.

“The publication of books seems to have become a very important medium of communication between Taiwan and Hong Kong, or a medium of mutual support,” he said.

In July, Taiwan’s broadcaster FTV reported that a logistics firm stopped taking orders to ship books from Taiwan to Hong Kong bookstores under investigation. It also demanded a full book list before delivering to other Hong Kong premises, the report added.

One Hong Kong author who moved to Taiwan and has published books there is Lee, who spoke on condition of not using their full name out of fear of government retribution.

Lee has written about Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, saying the independent bookstores served as a bridge to bring works about Hong Kong to the city and connect diaspora writers to their home.

The writer compared the collapse of civil society to a boulder rolling downhill, crushing things in its path. Lee said bookstores were a small flower field where people could breathe and try to safeguard what remained.

“It’s now like being told very directly and cruelly that perhaps this borrowed time is coming to an end,” Lee said.