# Book censorship in Hong Kong

Since the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" came into effect on July 1, 2020, there have been media reports that Hong Kong Public Libraries and school libraries have removed books and periodicals from their shelves, and Hong Kong Correctional Services has also listed some books and periodicals as banned books. Complaints or reports have been made by some organizations that some books and periodicals were suspected of violating the law, resulting in the distributors and publishers being convicted and imprisoned.
As of September 2, 2024, no less than 550 titles are reported to be banned, and/or complained.

## In the past

On October 2, 2007, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department made it clear that "Hong Kong Public Libraries selects and purchases library materials in accordance with the principles of the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto to meet the needs of different people in the society for lifelong learning, academic research, access to information and the best use of spare time. In the spirit of the Manifesto, the Hong Kong Public Libraries adheres to the principle of safeguarding information freedom when purchasing books and newspapers and will not censor publications."
On June 24, 2009, the Home Affairs Department stated in the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, "As at June 15, 2009, the Hong Kong Public Libraries (HKPL) holds 149 titles of books on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre and related topics and the number of copies totals 1,162. In response to the demand of the readers, HKPL has ordered an addition of 250 copies of these books. By then, the percentage of the relevant books available for loan will be 82%.". There were 149 titles at that time, but by May 2023, only 3 titles remained in the collection.

## In the present

Some scholars believe that the government's current approach violates the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto which states that "collections and services should not be subject to any form of ideological, political or religious censorship, nor commercial pressures". The government is destroying the foundation of the library.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee issued the "Concluding observations on the 4th periodic report of Hong Kong, China: Human Rights Committee" on Hong Kong's implementation of the "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" on November 11, 2022. In Article C, item 44 of which states that Hong Kong, China, should:
* (a) Immediately stop censoring books and other material in the public libraries, including school libraries, and reinstate the books and other material that have been removed for allegedly breaching the National Security Law or for being contrary to the interests of national security;
* (b) Publish a list of the books and materials that have been removed;
* (c) Take concrete steps necessary to ensure non-recurrence.
The Hong Kong government and school management have so far failed to comply with the committee’s instructions, which seems to be in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related conventions.
In 2024, there were news that some school principals and teachers responsible for national security education have been further self-censoring the books in the school library. Their targets are books published in Taiwan. The reason is that they are printed with words such as "Taiwan", "Country", and "National Library Cataloging in Publications". The school's handling methods include using stickers to block out "Taiwan" and "country" or blackening out the word with a black oil-based pen, and even removing all books published in Taiwan from the shelves. The situation is consistent with the means the Hong Kong government and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government of China have banned universities from Taiwan coming to Hong Kong to participate in the Taiwan Education Exhibition in 2023. The word "national" violates the National Security Law.
There were reports that some Hong Kong government schools have suspended the e-book platform (HyRead) service of Hyweb Technology Co. Ltd. from Taiwan, and canceled the online reading platforms for Chinese and English subjects to prevent teachers and students from accessing content that might be violated the National Security Law and the Basic Law.
It is worth noting that, in addition to the following large number of books and periodicals that were censored and removed from the shelves, there are also a large number of books and periodicals that have never been put on the shelves due to censorship or self-censorship. The government and schools deprive readers of information freedom under little-known circumstances. In such a situation, the Hong Kong Library Association and the Hong Kong Teacher-Librarians' Association have never expressed their concerns and taken corresponding actions. Obviously, it is the collapse of the profession. It can be seen that Hong Kong’s librarians, teacher-librarians, school quality assurance personnel (inspectors) of the Education Bureau, school management, teachers, etc. have failed to uphold their professionalism and maintain the freedom of circulation and freedom of information, and have almost lost their professional judgment, integrity and professionalism.