Exiled China author in Hong Kong as arts centre agrees to host talks
Dissident Chinese author Ma Jian arrived in Hong Kong yesterday vowing to speak at the city’s literary festival as a major arts centre that had pulled out of hosting him changed its mind.
The new Tai Kwun arts complex, which hosts the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, said Thursday it had cancelled Ma’s two speaking events after venue director Timothy Calnin said he did not want it to become “a platform to promote the political interests of any individual”.
Ma, whose books are banned in mainland China, is due to promote his latest novel ‘China Dream’, a title that plays on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rhetoric of national rejuvenation and is described by publisher Penguin as “a biting satire of totalitarianism”.
A replacement venue also pulled out yesterday as concerns grow that freedoms are dying in the semi-autonomous city under an assertive China.
Calnin said the centre had reconsidered and would host Ma as an alternative venue had not been found.
“Mr Ma has made public statements which clarify that his appearances in Hong Kong are as a novelist and that he has no intention to use Tai Kwun as a platform to promote his personal political interests,” Calnin said in a statement.
Festival organisers said they were “delighted” with the decision. “The principles of free speech and cultural expression are central to our mission as an international literary festival,” they said in a statement. Ma had expressed concern he would be barred from Hong Kong after senior Financial Times journalist Victor Mallet, a British national, was refused entry to the city Thursday night.
But speaking to reporters in the arrivals hall yesterday evening Ma said he had been let through without any questions from immigration officials.
“The talk must go on. Even if only one Hong Konger wants to attend. Even if only one reader wants to talk to me,” he said ahead of the new decision by Tai Kwun.
Ma blamed “some organisation” above the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which runs Tai Kwun, for the original decision. “Simply because a book has the name ‘China Dream’ they don’t allow us to hold the talk. This is terrifying,” he said.
Ma has Hong Kong residency which entitles him to live and work in the city but he said he entered using his British passport.
He described Hong Kong as his second home but said this would be his last visit. “I don’t even know whether I will be disappeared when I walk on Hong Kong streets tomorrow,” he told reporters.
The city’s publishing sector has taken a hit since five booksellers known for printing gossipy titles about China’s leaders disappeared in 2015 and resurfaced in custody on the mainland.