Hong Kong’s vanishing books: as public libraries clear shelves of sensitive titles, can readers turn to shops or are they also becoming wary?

21361207-180e-4fa3-9302-8826a56f8b59_8918295e

Hong Kong bookstores have become the centre of attention since the city’s public libraries ramped up efforts to clear shelves of titles that posed potential national security risks.

Gone from the shelves of these shops are books about Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on student protesters at Tiananmen Square and titles by prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy figures, including the late Szeto Wah, while those about the 2019 social unrest have become harder to find.