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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Helen Davidson and Chi-hui Lin in Taipei

China cracks down on Communist party officials for reading banned books

Books sold by Lam Wing-kee, a former Hong Kong bookseller who counted senior Chinese Communist officials among his old customers.
Books sold by Lam Wing-kee, a former Hong Kong bookseller who counted senior Chinese Communist officials among his old customers. Photograph: Chi-hui Lin/The Guardian

When Lam Wing-kee ran his bookshop in Hong Kong, filled with controversial and political titles banned in mainland China, many of his customers were Chinese Communist party officials.

Back then, in the early years of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s reign, and before Lam was detained by Chinese authorities for his work, the officials would load up boxes of books on CCP politics, Chinese economics, and scandal, often taking them back over the border.

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