The Saga of the Kidnapped Bookseller of Hong Kong | The Listening Post (Feature)




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Summary: For more than 20 years, Lam Wing-kee owned Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong. The store not only specialised in literature critical of the Chinese Communist Party and the private lives of Beijing's ruling elite, but perfected the art of smuggling those books - which are banned in China - onto the mainland. His work turned him into a target. In 2015, Lam disappeared along with four of his colleagues, only to resurface months later on Chinese state television, "confessing" to the crime of smuggling contraband. The Listening Post's Johanna Hoes travelled to Lam's new home, Taiwan, to speak to him about his time in a secret Chinese prison, the bizarre circumstances of his release, and his stated wish to finish what he started - running a bookstore with a mission. Contributors: Lam Wing-kee - former owner and manager, Causeway Bay Books