Missing Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee is a ‘super book lover’ who used to be boss of Causeway Bay Books
Friend shares details on one of the last three associates to resurface in mainland China, while chief executive Leung Chun-ying says government will pursue case, urges public not to speculate
“A super book lover” – that was how a friend described one of three booksellers whose fate was finally revealed on Thursday when Guangdong police confirmed they were being investigated on the mainland.
While the spotlight on the five missing booksellers had fallen mainly on Gui Minhai and Lee Po, attention has now turned to who the trio are and what role they played in the book business.
As the controversy continued to deepen, the European Parliament issued a resolution calling for the booksellers’ “immediate safe release”, adding that it “strongly condemns all cases of human rights violation”.
Since the booksellers began to vanish in October, details of the three – Lam Wing-kee, Cheung Chi-ping and Lui Por – have remained sketchy as their families and friends avoided the media.
But yesterday, shedding light on Lam’s passion for books, a friend of a decade said he was a “super book lover” who would strive to re-publish books he liked to give them a wider audience.
Caroline Chan said Lam used to be the boss of Causeway Bay Books – the shop at the centre of the disappearance mystery – which he ran with his wife.
“But they couldn’t afford the rising rent and at one point planned to move and offered me the spare bookshelves,” said Chan, who runs Sam Kee Book Company in Fortress Hill.
“After a while he told me the shop had been bought by [publishing house] Mighty Current, so he worked there as an employee.”
Owner Mighty Current specialises in books critical of the Chinese Communist Party, raising suspicions the booksellers were kidnapped by mainland agents.
Chan said that if Lam liked a book, he would republish it for a wider circulation though his own publishing house, Gold Rock. “He once told me he had stocked up several thousand sets of books,” Chan recalled. “You can see how passionate and silly he is.
“At the height of his career, he owned a shop in Kowloon, in addition to the Causeway Bay one. He was very dedicated to his shop and stayed there as late as four in the morning.”
On Thursday night, the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department said the three were suspected to be involved in Gui Minhai’s case and were also “involved in illegal activities on the mainland”. Gui went missing in October from Pattaya, Thailand, but appeared on state TV last month saying he had turned himself in over a fatal accident he was involved in 12 years ago.
Veteran China watcher Johnny Lau Yui-siu, who knows all five missing booksellers, said relatives are terrified by the situation surrounding their disappearance.
“They are apprehensive over the incident and prefer to stay low-profile for fear of further complication of the case,” Lau said.
Meanwhile, with Lunar New Year approaching, dissident poet Bei Ling, who has known Gui – a Swedish citizen – since the 1980s, has one wish for his long-time friend: let his family visit him in the mainland detention centre.
“Gui’s daughter has already bought many different things for her father. She is still waiting for a reply from the Swedish authorities about her request that the authorities assist her to visit her father in China,” he said.
Bei, co-founder of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, said he flew to Gui’s Pattaya flat last week. He discovered that Gui’s computer and passport were missing.
“I also found 10 different types of medicine in his flat ... I hope the Chinese authorities are giving him the medicines he needs in the detention centre,” said Bei.
Jin Zhong, chief editor of Open Magazine who knows some of the missing booksellers, said:“People in Hong Kong might think the time is right for a family reunion during the biggest festive time of the year, but I’m afraid it would take a longer time [for the booksellers to return].”
Separately, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying on Friday urged the public not to speculate as he maintained that the government would continue to pursue the case – even though Lee had urged the city’s police not to do so.
Lee even wrote a letter to Hong Kong police rejecting their request for a meeting with him, drawing suspicion that he was forced to write the letter.
