Censorship report: Hong Kong's banned book trade

In America, we sometimes take our freedoms for granted. Here, a "banned book" is one that might get kicked out of a school or a library, even though it continues to be widely available at other libraries and book stores for anyone to buy. But for people living in China, a "banned book" is just that: it is banned, period.

It cannot be bought, sold, or even mentioned online on the Internet, which China's government filters stringently. (Search for "Tiannanmen Square" on the Internet in China and you will get directions and tourist information, and not a whisper of the student massacre. Search for "Tiannanmen square massacre," and you could get in trouble.)

In many ways, China is a science fiction dystopia that exists right here on Earth in the year 2013. I have been paying more attention to China lately because I have a friend who is traveling there for business. And it looks like the New York Times has been paying attention to China, too, because they recently ran a fascinating article about how China's oppressive government regime has created a brisk trade in banned books in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's trade in contraband books and magazines is thriving, with many bookstores dedicated entirely to banned books. Mainland Chinese visitors make trips to Hong Kong just to stock up on books, smuggling them back into China at risk of confiscation.

These smuggled books provide one of the few glimpses of reality that people in China can receive. The Chinese government is a big fan of revisionist history, imprisoning reporters who report facts that are unflattering to the government, and sanitizing all forms of public media.

In the face of this totalitarian regime, books are the lifeline. Long live books!

Image courtesy Flickr/betta design