From solitary confinement in China to self-exile in Taiwan: Inside a Hong Kong bookshop owner’s fight to keep the free press alive

It’s about more than just selling books

During my visit, it was clear sales were slow.

Lam seemed down when talking about the business. He complained that he wasn’t making enough to cover the 30,000 New Taiwan Dollars, or $930, a month rent.

“I would get more customers after some media reports, but it would quieten down after a while,” he said.

It doesn’t help that Hong Kongers who go to his shop have become fearful about buying anything to bring home.

Lam was considering closing his shop altogether.

His friend — who also runs a bookshop in Taipei — changed his mind: “He told me: ‘I don’t care about what you do, but this bookshop is not just about you.’

In the three hours I spent at Causeway Bay Books’ former premises, I only spotted three people in the store, all tourists. They walked into the shop through an entryway piled with memorabilia from anti-government protests in Hong Kong — all of this has been moved to his new shop.

But the people who go to Causeway Bay Books — whose mainstays are books on politics and history — know what they are looking for.

Despite challenges — including Hong Kong’s first national security law in 2020 — the number of independent bookstores rose from under 50 to 87 between 2019 to 2022, said Cheng, the professor.

Cheng, who interviewed independent bookstore operators in Hong Kong for his research, said some Hong Konger indie bookstore owners are driven by a sense of mission to offer non-mainstream books — especially since libraries in Hong Kong have pulled books that may breach the national security law from their shelves.

So, unless Beijing actively cracks down on indie bookstores, new entrants would still enter the market to keep anti-establishment books in circulation, said Cheng.

“If indie bookstores disappear completely in Hong Kong, that’s when we know that the freedom of speech has been completely obliterated,” he said.

Pushing for change in Taiwan

Freedom is why Causeway Bay Books’ Lam chooses to stay in Taiwan, even if he is on his own. He is divorced, and his two adult sons still live unharassed in Hong Kong.

“Hong Kong is like mainland China now. You shouldn’t call it Hong Kong but Chinese Hong Kong,” Lam said.

Although he still misses Hong Kong from time to time, he says it’s no longer the place he once knew.

Lam said he values the freedom and democracy Taiwan has afforded and appreciates its comprehensive national healthcare system — which is considered one of the best in the world.

He is now pushing for Taiwan’s independence because only then will the island remain free, he said.

He reckons major changes will not happen in his lifetime, but he wants people to read more and think more critically.

Lam is hopeful that Taiwan, as a democracy, can progress in the longer term — as long as it remains free from Beijing, which has been stepping up military activities and propaganda efforts around the island.

“We can’t change China, so we must protect Taiwan,” he said.