Just two months after the high-flying career of Liu Zhijun ended with his dismissal as minister of railways, a tell-all book hit Hong Kong bookstores.
The publisher, New York-based Mirror Books, said it had long planned a book about Liu - whose fate since his dismissal in February, apparently because of corruption, is unknown - so it was relatively easy to produce the 413-page paperback quickly.
'We've been paying close attention to Liu Zhijun for many years, and his being arrested was only a matter of time,' said Ho Pin, owner and editor-in-chief of the publishing house. 'One of our writers has experience working for the Ministry of Railways and he knows pretty well about Liu and the ministry.' A few well-placed stringers also provided exclusive content from Beijing and Wuhan , the capital of Liu's home province of Hubei and his apparent power base, for the book. Other contributors collected all the reports on Liu in the mainland media, he said.
Such books are banned on the mainland but they often become best-sellers in Hong Kong, where mainland tourists tuck them away in their suitcases along with other purchases such as Louis Vuitton handbags and Chanel perfume and smuggle them over the border. Besides readers buying books for personal use, Hong Kong bookshop owners say mainland businessmen often buy illicit books in bulk to give to their friends and business associates. The risk appears worth it since the odds of getting caught are low and the penalty is usually limited to confiscation.
A university student in Guangzhou named Zhenhao said he frequently comes to Hong Kong to buy politically sensitive books. 'These books are banned on the mainland and this only makes me even more curious to read them.'
He said it was usually safe to take the books through mainland customs because the large number of individual travellers meant it was impossible to check everyone's luggage. Once he was asked why he had so many books with him - a whole carton - and was let go after replying that he was a student. 'Even if they see the books are banned books, all they can do is to confiscate them, but they can't detain me, as there is no law saying I can't buy them.'
