Causeway Bay Books | |||||||||||
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![]() The original bookstore at 531 Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 銅鑼灣書店 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 铜锣湾书店 | ||||||||||
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Causeway Bay Books is an independent bookstore in Taipei,Taiwan,which until December 2015 was an upstairs bookstore located in Causeway Bay,Hong Kong. [1] [2] The first bookstore in Hong Kong was popular with tourists from mainland China looking for books on Chinese politics and politicians which were not available in mainland China. In late 2015,five people associated with the store disappeared,sparking international concern. [3] [4] [5] The first bookstore closed after the disappearance of its last staff member,Lee Bo,in December 2015. A second version of the bookstore was opened in Taipei,Taiwan in April 2020 by Lam Wing-kee,the founder of the original Hong Kong store and one of the five people who disappeared. [6]
The first version of the bookstore in Hong Kong was founded in 1994 by Lam Wing-kee. Located on Hong Kong Island on the second floor of 531 Lockhart Road,Causeway Bay,the first bookstore occupied an area of nearly 300 square feet (28 m2). [1] In addition to general literary history books,the first bookstore also sold books on topics that are considered sensitive and therefore banned in China. [7] Many mainland Chinese people that came to Hong Kong as tourists made a special trip to the bookstore to purchase books on politics. [8]
In 2014,Lam Wing-kee sold the first bookstore to Mighty Current Media Ltd.,but stayed on as its manager. From September 2014,the company had three shareholders:Gui Minhai (34%),Sophie Choi (34%) and Lui Bo (32%). [9] According to industry sources,Mighty Current is a prolific publisher with a number of publishing subsidiaries,and this group may be responsible for 30 to 60 percent of the output of salacious books about Chinese political figures that are widely available at newsstands and book stores,including one at Hong Kong International Airport. [10]
In 2015, major figures associated with the first bookstore disappeared, with some later confirmed to have been abducted by the Chinese government.
In its semi-annual report on Hong Kong for the second half of 2015, the British Foreign Secretary said: "The unexplained disappearance of five individuals associated with a Hong Kong bookstore and publishing house has raised questions in Hong Kong. I am particularly concerned by the situation of Mr Lee Po, a British citizen. The full facts of the case remain unclear, but our current information indicates that Mr Lee was involuntarily removed to the mainland without any due process under Hong Kong SAR law. This constitutes a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong and undermines the principle of "One Country, Two Systems" which assures Hong Kong residents of the protection of the Hong Kong legal system. We have called, in our contacts with the Chinese government at the highest level, for Mr Lee's immediate return to Hong Kong. We urge the Chinese and Hong Kong SAR governments to reassure the people of Hong Kong that law enforcement in the Hong Kong SAR is exclusively the responsibility of the Hong Kong SAR authorities, and that the fundamental rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents will continue to be fully protected, and respected by all, in accordance with the Joint Declaration and Basic Law." [37] [38]
Up until the disappearances, the first bookstore maintained a stock of books for sale – in excess of 100,000 units – in two warehouses. One of the warehouses, containing some 45,000 books, was emptied according to the instructions of shareholder Sophie Choi, and one helper at the bookshop said that Choi ordered the stock destroyed in the hope that the return of Lee Bo, her husband, would be expedited. [39]
Lam Wing-kee opened a second version of the bookstore in Taipei, Taiwan, which opened on 25 April 2020., [24] [6] located on the 10th floor of a commercial building near the Zhongshan metro station. A few days earlier on 20 April, a company accused Lam of infringing on their trademark on the Chinese name for the bookstore (銅鑼灣書店), which Lam claimed was a fake bookstore opened elsewhere in Taipei to target his. On 21 April, Lam was splashed with red paint and three suspects were arrested the next day. [40] President Tsai Ing-wen sent flowers and a congratulatory note on the day of the Taipei bookshop's opening, [41] and Legislative Yuan speaker You Si-kun and Democratic Progressive Party secretary-general Luo Wen-jia were in attendance. [42]
香港的三條主要書店街旺角西洋菜街、銅鑼湾 5000 背後的駱克道、中環街巿的域 多利皇後街,都有這些銷售內地圆書的"樓上書店"。如時代廣場對面的"人民書店" , 銅鑼湾 8000 背後的"銅鑼灣書店"、"尚書房"、"大陸書店"、"國風堂"、"文星"等等。