Copies of a controversial book have almost sold out and 3,000 more will arrive next week after the work came under criticism from Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying in his policy address, its editors have said. The Chinese-language title Hong Kong Nationalism was published in September but attracted sudden interest following Leung's accusation that the University of Hong Kong student union was "advocating independence" and "putting forward fallacies" through its book and the February issue of its official magazine, Undergrad . Leung's high-profile remarks on Wednesday prompted the book - about 100 copies of which had been left from the first print run of 2,500, according to HKU student Keyvin Wong Chun-kit - to fly off the shelves across the city on the same day. "We are discussing with the printer and making good progress. Three thousand more copies should be printed in one or two weeks," Wong, former assistant editor-in-chief of Undergrad , said yesterday. Brian Leung Kai-ping, editor-in-chief of both publications, said the new copies would be available from Thursday in bookstores, including those under its distributor, Sino United Publishing. Students had accused Sino of stopping selling the book to retailers at the start of last year's Occupy protests. Hundreds of people have placed orders at book stores. An employee of Cosmos Books in Wan Chai said it had taken more than 100 reservations, while a Page One staff member in Kowloon Tong said it, too, had nearly 100 orders. Best Reading Bookstore in Mong Kok said dozens of people had reserved the book. Wong said that even before Leung fired the broadside, Hong Kong Nationalism "was one of the bestsellers at bookstores". "The February [issue of Undergrad ] was very popular, that's why we decided to make the book," which included additional articles. Wong and Brian Leung both said they were neither for nor against independence. Undergrad was not promoting independence, Wong said, adding that he did not intend to start an independence movement. "We were defending our right to express a political view," he said. "The topic of [independence] already existed and all we did was discuss its possibility." Leung Chun-ying, meanwhile, told RTHK he had spoken up only because the magazine's editors were "persistently" thinking about independence. He is believed to be referring to the September issue, titled "Hong Kong democratic independence", which repeated certain points raised in the book. Wong said the issue was produced by his successors, not by the same team of editors. He criticised the chief executive for putting pressure on students.
