Hongkong:
On a quiet lane in Hong Kong, hundreds of people gathered over the weekend to say goodbye to an independent bookstore after weekly government inspections forced it to close due to anonymous complaints.
Mount Zero said it would close at the end of March after repeated complaints to authorities, who accused it of illegally occupying government land by installing a pavement in front of the store and facing the threat of fines and jail time.
Since Hong Kong’s national security law was implemented in 2020, the city’s cultural sector has been hit by censorship concerns, and the few surviving bookstores say they are operating in an increasingly stressful environment.
“The authorities often say Hong Kong will return to normal… (but) these things will plague our lives,” said political scientist Ivan Choy, who attended the gathering.
Hong Kong recently enacted a second national security law, which critics fear will further drive democratic sentiment underground and weaken cultural and artistic freedoms.
The city government has denied accusations that the law restricts free speech.
But Mountain Zero has undergone dramatic political change since its founding six years ago, and book lovers lament that the liberal bookstore appears to have fallen victim to that shift.
Leo, a 20-year-old student who declined to give his last name, said he feared “the categories of books allowed to be sold would be restricted” to the detriment of other independent bookstores.
“These bookstores are places where book lovers gather, and it is a pity to lose them,” he said.
“Ideas are invulnerable”
Mount Zero often hosts cultural events such as book talks in its outdoor area and has gained a loyal following.
Barrister and former pro-democracy politician Margaret Ng said the two-storey bookstore provided an important gathering place for like-minded readers.
“You can see in Mountain Zero the desire of young people to express themselves in literature and form their own communities,” she said.
But in December, several independent bookstores reported a surge in government inspections, some triggered by anonymous complaints covering fire safety and labor regulations.
Mountain Zero announced its closure last year and said it wanted “mysterious complainants to take a break” after receiving weekly visits from different government departments.
“The time saved can be used to sit down and read a good book,” it said.
AFP could not independently verify the nature of the complaint.
Some Mount Zero supporters say the government should not suppress spaces for bookworms.
“If the government wants more people to stay in Hong Kong, they have to consider whether there is still room in the city for us to stay,” Tsai said.
Under a mosaic sign that reads “Thoughts are Bulletproof,” sweet green pea soup and barbecued pork are passed around in the bookstore’s final hours.
As night fell and the store’s lights dimmed, readers mourned the store’s loss and said the impact on the local community would not be forgotten.
“In the case of ‘Mountain Zero,’ it’s not really about a particular bookstore,” Wu said.
“This is the spirit, and this spirit is invincible.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
