Among books being pulled from public libraries: Szeto Wah’s memoirs and Louisa Lim’s People’s Republic of Amnesia. The late Szeto’s work – of which energetically pro-Beijing lawyer Ronny Tong has a copy – looks back at his time as an anti-colonial Chinese patriot.
It’s not simply about subject matter…
Non-political materials were also on the growing list of books recently removed from shelves after an Audit Commission report published last month said that more effort was needed to examine “library materials for safeguarding national security”.
These volumes included romance novels by Democratic Party ex-lawmaker Roy Kwong Chun-yu, an award-winning martial arts novel review by former legal sector legislator Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee and two travelogues by veteran journalist Allan Au Ka-lun, who was a columnist for the now-closed Stand News.
Banned author plunges into freezing water as penitence. Mass-burning of the Emily Lau Cookbook tomorrow.
Why is my immediate instinct to assume that the golf lobby ordered a load of owls on Taobao and put them in a tree at Fanling?
Lovely day in Eastasia!
Censorship. Thank heavens. I think the books of a man with a similar sounding name to mine are safe though. Inoffensive and harmless. No one buys them anyway. No need for memory holes there then. Think they have them already at the SCMP? Hurrah!
“In the walls of the cubicle there were three orifices. To the right of the speakwrite, a small pneumatic tube for written messages, to the left, a larger one for newspapers; and in the side wall, within easy reach of Winston’s arm, a large oblong slit protected by a wire grating. This last was for the disposal of waste paper. Similar slits existed in thousands or tens of thousands throughout the building, not only in every room but at short intervals in every corridor. For some reason they were nicknamed memory holes. When one knew that any document was due for destruction, or even when one saw a scrap of waste paper lying about, it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it in, whereupon it would be whirled away on a current of warm air to the enormous furnaces which were hidden somewhere in the recesses of the building.”
So the books are being censored based on who wrote them rather than what the.contents. Ga yau!
Did “We Deserve Better” ever even make it into the libraries in the first place I wonder?
Thanks for the excellent video link as always. Must admit, I was hoping for ‘Learn to Fly’ by Foo Fighters. Totally agree that is a Taobao job if ever I saw one.
Lousia Lim’s book is still available at HKU Library – I just checked.
Yesterday, an English Court of Appeal Judge declined to follow the reasoning of Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal on contract clauses that specify a place to resolve disputes. Isn’t that a breach of Hong Kong’s new NatSec law?
If I (dodgy looking foreigner) wore a tee shirt with the slogan “Safeguard National Security” would that be considered:
A. foreign interference?
B. a cool mind hack?
C a great way to meet friends and influence people?
D…………….. write in option
https://www.chinadailyhk.com/article/331004
Over 1m signatures collected to support district council reform
A Pyrrhic victory indeed as clearly anyone who dared collect signatures in objection to the DC reforms would be locked up indefinitely and those daring to sign tracked down and hounded.
On the positive side the “volunteers” face a long, hot and sweaty summer out there on the streets every weekend.
Mary, I said to a friend that the gov. or some related person would say that they have gotten at least 1 million signatures. It’s so predictable.
Jennifer, going by previous signature campaigns of the same ilk one can guarantee that a good percentage of the ‘signatures’ were in fact pithy and derogatory comments.
Who are these so-called one million who sign these so-called petitions? I never meet any of them.