All Falun Gong publications were out of stock yesterday at three mainland-backed book chains.
The Commercial Press, Joint Publishing (HK) and Chung Hwa Book said all books, videos and audio tapes on Falun Gong and founder Li Hongzhi were sold out and they would not be restocking them soon.
'The distributor has not notified us when they will be getting new books so we will not be selling Falun books and other related materials for now,' a Commercial Press spokeswoman said.
But she admitted the bookstore has not asked for new supplies. The other two book chains gave similar replies.
All said there was no question of censorship but simply that they had run out of stock. They refused to give sales figures.
Mainland state-run media reported authorities had burned more than two million Falun-related publications since last week after the sect, which claims to have up to 100 million followers, was outlawed.