Public Libraries’ Collections Slashed Under National Security Law

Hong Kong Central Library. Sung Pi-Lung/The Epoch Times

The number of collections in Hong Kong’s public libraries dropped by over 40,000 items in 2020, the year the national security law came into effect, the latest figures revealed.

Based on the Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics by the Census and Statistics Department on Jan. 15, after the National Security Law came into effect in 2020, the number of public library collections decreased by 42,000 in 2020 compared to the previous year, increased by 156,000 items in 2021, and decreased again in 2022, with 66,000 fewer items than the previous year, as shown in the figure below:

The collection area is divided into books and multimedia materials. Multimedia collections have been declining for several years since 2019.

LCSD: Continuous Book Review to Protect National Security

In Report No. 80 of the Director of Audit published in April 2023, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) responded to the Audit Commission’s recommendations on national security by saying that it would step up its efforts to review library materials, that it agreed that actions to safeguard national security were of the utmost importance, and that it had already removed library books which were clearly unfavourable to national security from the collection.

However, the LCSD has long refused to disclose the number of removed books due to the national security law. When Ming Pao queried the department in 2022 by invoking the Code on Access to Information, the LCSD replied that disclosure of the information would jeopardise Hong Kong’s security and public order.

According to Ming Pao’s statistics in May 2023, at least 195 items of video recordings and books involving political subjects and figures have been banned by local public libraries since the national security law came into effect, most of which are writings by pro-democracy activists.

Online media Jiji Press reported in 2023 that 255 Chinese e-books had been taken off the shelves since May 2020, of which 100 were on political issues related to China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, or written by “sensitive figures,” such as Wang Dan, a leader of the Tiananmen Square protest; Benny Tai Yiu-ting, one of the initiators of the Occupy Central movement; Albert Ho Chun-yan, former chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, and veteran media personalities such as Li Wei-Ling.

Student Failed to Find Books in Public Libraries

Mrs. Lam, a parent in Hong Kong, told her experience of failing to find books designated by her son’s school.

Every year from 2020 to 2023, the school would assign a list of about 50 books to students, most of which are Hong Kong’s literary books and masterpieces, and ask them to write book reports. However, Mrs. Lam failed to find these books in the public library’s computer system. She also noticed that many books in simplified Chinese characters and old books were on the shelves.

“The library at [my] son’s school is new and has a much better collection of books than the public library,” she told The Epoch Times.

According to the statistics of the Census and Statistics Department, the number of books borrowed from libraries has also dropped. The number of books borrowed in 2022 was 23.543 million, a year-on-year decrease of about 4.697 million, or 29.76 million less than the 53.303 million borrowed in 2012, representing a drop of over 55.8 percent.

The number of borrowed multimedia materials also dropped from about 677,000 in 2021 to about 520,000 in 2022, a year-on-year drop of 23.2 percent. Compared with the number of 2.397 million items ten years ago, the drop is as high as 78.3 percent.

According to the Department, the reasons for the declining materials borrowed include the improved reading environment of some libraries, with more readers choosing to read in libraries instead of lending materials out, and the fact that many schools now have their own library collections, resulting in reduced demand for lending services. In addition, the situation from 2020 to 2022 is also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Censorship Wave Not Stopped

The censorship wave in public libraries began a few days after the national security law was implemented. On July 4, 2020, a reporter, who had booked to borrow from a public library, found that the LCSD had issued instructions for the library to “review” the books of certain authors, including Joshua Wong’s book I Am Not a Hero.

By May 2021, the LCSD withdrew nine more books, including Bruce Lam Hong Ching’s “History of Hong Kong’s Civil Resistance Movement” and Chinese exile writer Yu Jie’s “The Despicable Chinese.”

Attendees from various forces march next to a banner promoting the new national security law at the end of a flag-raising ceremony to mark the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from Britain in Hong Kong on July 1, 2020. Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images

At the end of the same month, the LCSD took down another 16 books, including books with “civil disobedience” in their titles, such as “3 Giants of Civil Disobedience: Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela.”

In May 2023, comics of political cartoonist Zunzi, who had drawn for Ming Pao for 40 years, were immediately “taken off the shelves” from public libraries.

Books Not ‘Sensitive’ Back on Shelves

Research by The Epoch Times found that some of the above persons have been “unblocked” on public libraries’ websites. For instance, five books illustrated by Zunzi and Radio Television Hong Kong’s audio material “Ten Good Books 2004: Zunzi, the Comic Book Artist, Recommends ‘The Music of Human Beings’” have been re-launched on the shelves. However, a number of his political satirical comics, which could have been borrowed from public libraries, are nowhere to be found.

The writings of Jimmy Pang Chi-ming, the president of the publishing house Subculture, were once completely banned. At present, there are only two publications by him available in public libraries, “Thirteen Beliefs for Young People” and “Hot & Sour Soup for the Soul,” both of which have nothing to do with politics. Books on Cantonese by Mr. Pang, who had studied the language for many years, used to be seen in public libraries but can not be found now.

In the early years, Hong Kong’s public libraries were eclectic; for example, a number of libraries used to display The Epoch Times. On the eve of the implementation of the national security law, The Epoch Times’ request to be displayed in public libraries was usually turned down, including by the Central Library.

Despite the challenging environment, The Epoch Times holds out amid the shrinking freedom of the press in Hong Kong.