Fifth Chinese Bookseller, Lee Bo, Has Disappeared

January 12, 2016

Last week, Lee Bo became the fifth Chinese bookseller to mysteriously disappear since mid-October, the New Yorker reports. All five work for Hong Kong-based publisher Mighty Current—a press specializing in works critical of Mainland China’s government.

Mighty Current’s co-owner, Gui Minhai, was the first to disappear and was last seen at his resort home in Pattaya, Thailand. It was speculated that Minhai’s disappearance had to do with his publishing activities, and when the house’s general manager, bookstore manager, and business manager vanished in a span of six days, those speculations grew stronger.

While a few of the booksellers have been in sporadic contact with family members, they’ve mentioned only in vague terms that they’re “assisting an investigation.” It remains unclear how they are assisting, or whether or not they have been detained as targets of the supposed investigation.

Lee Bo
"Pro-democracy demonstrators hold up portraits of Causeway Bay Books shareholder Lee Bo (R) during a protest to call for an investigation behind the disappearance of five staff members of a Hong Kong publishing house and bookstore, outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong, China January 3, 2016." via Reuters.

Over the weekend, Jeffrey Wasserstrom wrote in the Los Angeles Review of Books about the changing political history that may have given rise to these mysterious disappearances. Citing a video by Hong Kong local Agnes Chow, “An Urgent Cry from Hong Kong,” Wasserstrom explains the ways in which China has become increasingly assertive in making Hong Kong more like a mainland city.

Lee had mentioned months ago that he was himself unaware of the circumstances surrounding his colleague Gui’s disappearance. “So we all suspect it has something to do with his upcoming books,” he told the Guardian. “Nobody knows. Not even the name do we know... Probably he has some kind of books—or a book—the Chinese leadership must get rid of. It’s the only reason I can think of.”

PEN International released a statement last week ordering the release of the Mighty Current employees, which include Gui Minhai, Lin Rongji, Lu Bo, Zhang Zhiping, and Lee Bo.

 

Photo Credit: Reuters/Tyrone Siu.

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