The Hong Kong Book Fair was suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 epidemic, and resumed this year as control of the epidemic has improved. However, this was the first Hong Kong Book Fair after the implementation of the “Hong Kong National Security Law.”
Jimmy Pang, the president of publisher Subculture, told Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) that in view of the implementation of the “Hong Kong National Security Law,” some participating booksellers had already met and reached a consensus and decided not to place and sell books that may violate the “Hong Kong National Security Law” in order to avoid “getting into trouble.”
Pang pointed out that because of the ambiguity of the “Hong Kong National Security Law,” many participating booksellers are worried. Not only political books, but some sensitive books, and even books that comment on current affairs, will not be exhibited at this year’s Hong Kong Book Fair. Pang described this year’s Hong Kong Book Fair by saying that “political books have been zeroed out.”
Tao Peikang, publishing manager of another book exhibitor, CUP Media, believes that self-censorship by exhibitors is inevitable under the pressure of “Hong Kong’s National Security Law” because, “We don’t know what content is illegal.”
Since July 2020, the Hong Kong SAR government’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department has removed dozens of books from public libraries on the grounds of (conflict with) the “Hong Kong National Security Law.”
Source: Central News Agency, July 13, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202107130353.aspx