50-year-old Greenfield Bookstore to close following arrests, national security raid

A Hong Kong bookstore whose staff were arrested by national security police two weeks ago has announced its closure.

“Our store will be closing after our lease expires. Thank you for walking with us, through wind and rain, for 50 years since our opening,” Greenfield Bookstore said in social media posts in the early hours of Wednesday.

“Thank you, and take care,” the bookstore said. It did not specify when its lease will be up.

The announcement comes two weeks after five people were arrested following raids at Greenfield Bookstore and another independent bookshop, Have a Nice Stay.

Police seized titles they said carried “seditious” intentions, according to a government statement issued the same day. The books could stir hatred for the Hong Kong government, the Judiciary and law enforcement bodies, the statement read.

It is understood that of the five arrested, two are staff at Greenfield Bookstore, while three are from Have a Nice Stay.

Greenfield Bookstore opened five decades ago in 1976. It once had a branch in the Mong Kok service centre of the now-defunct Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union (HKPTU), the largest teachers’ union in the city with a half-century of history.

The union announced in 2021 that it would disband. It officially dissolved in March following the years-long process of selling its properties and distributing remaining funds to members.

Greenfield is the third bookstore this month to announce its closure. The raids came a day after Have a Nice Stay said it would shut down the following month, citing financial difficulties and “unclear red lines.”

Another independent bookstore, Elmbook, also announced a week before the raids that it will close its physical store. The announcement came after it and Luck Win Bookshop were reportedly banned from taking part in the annual Hong Kong Book Fair.

State-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po has accused Elmbook and Luck Win Bookshop of selling titles that promote Hong Kong independence.

‘With no green fields’

Under Greenfield Bookstore’s post about its closure, an Instagram user said: “With no green fields, where can flowers bloom?”

The comment appeared to be a reference to Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China. A Chinese version of the book, originally written in English, was reportedly among the titles seized by police.

National security police also arrested operators of two other independent bookstores earlier this year.

Pong Yat-ming, who owns Book Punch, and three of his bookstore’s staff members, were arrested in March on suspicion of selling seditious titles, including a biography of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

In June, the owner of Hunter Bookstore, Leticia Wong, was arrested for allegedly displaying and selling “seditious” titles and “receiving multiple remittances from foreign political organisations.” Her husband was apprehended on suspicion of committing the same offences.