There is a growing trend of media censorship in Hong Kong, according to publishers, journalists and scholars.
In recent weeks, Hong Kong book stores have been returning books with pro-democracy connections to publishers so as to not upset China’s central government, claims one independent publisher.
The trend has included books with content that is critical of China or books whose authors were involved in Occupy Central, Hong Kong’s mass civil disobedience movement last year.
Local getup Up Publications said it currently has a huge surplus of books after distributors Joint Publishing, Chung Hwa Book and Commercial Press returned hundreds of tomes with a connection to Hong Kong’s political turmoil.
In an interview with Ming Pao Daily, however, Up Publications’ chief editor Carmen Kwong admitted that some of those returned also included books about pets and culinary recipes.
You can never be too careful, we guess.
Joint Publishing, Chung Hwa Book and Commercial Press are subsidiaries of the Beijing-friendly Sino United Publishing, which operates 51 bookstores across Hong Kong.
Bruce Lui Ping-kuen, journalism professor at Hong Kong Baptist University and former reporter, explained to the Voice of America that Hong Kong does not have a censorship system like that of the mainland China, so such activities take on more creative forms.
David Bandurski, a researcher at the University of Hong Kong’s China Media Project, also claimed that many of his media contacts have had a tough time when trying to report on sensitive topics about China, adding that their supervisors “use all kinds of excuses to block them or give them more difficulties in doing so”.
Sino United Publishing said it would not comment on individual cases, but claimed bookshops decide for themselves which publications to feature.
Photo: Alcuin Lai via Flickr
