Independent English bookshop in Hong Kong Closes as Owner Leaves the City

In Hong Kong, the independent English bookshop, Bleak House Books (清明堂) will be closed in mid-October, 2021. The co-founder Albert King-ho Wan announced on Sunday, August 29, 2021.

Wan and his family will be leaving Hong Kong in the near future. Wan wrote in the blog of the bookstore, "the backdrop to these developments is, of course, politics".

Albert Wan was born in the 1970s in the United States and grew up there until he moved back to Hong Kong with his family in 2016. Previously a lawyer, Albert Wan started #BleakHouseBooks in early 2018 in San Po Kong, Kowloon.

Bleak House Books mainly sells vintage English books and comics and has become popular among readers over time. The bookshop also held talks for readers to exchange reflections.

Albert Wan said that the bookshop will be closed on October 15, 2021. Wan explained that his family’s daily lives are not overtly political, "but as George Orwell once remarked, in our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics. All issues are political issues."

The closure is a decision made with great sadness, said Wan. He added that given the state of politics in Hong Kong, "My wife and I can no longer see a life for ourselves and our children in this city, at least in the near future."

Source: Stand News #Aug29
https://thestandnews.page.link/NBKUcSdHhuqu6u527

More at:
https://blog.bleakhousebooks.com.hk/the-last-memo/

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