The owners of "Hunter Bookstore," a former district councilor and her husband, have been arrested by the National Security Department for allegedly distributing seditious materials and utilizing a youth exhibition on student suicides to brainwash children with anti-government hatred, all while facing accusations of laundering massive amounts of overseas funding from anti-China organizations.
Two owners of "Hunter Bookstore"—former Civic Party district councilor Wong Man-huen and her husband Mak—were recently arrested by officers from the Police National Security Department on suspicion of "doing an act or acts with seditious intention."
Wong is also implicated in an additional money laundering charge for allegedly receiving multiple suspicious payments amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars from overseas anti-China organizations.
According to informed sources, in addition to selling and displaying publications with seditious intentions, the involved bookstore frequently utilized seminars and sharing sessions targeted at teenagers and students to instill anti-government ideologies.
Recently, the bookstore held an exhibition regarding the "issue of student suicide," but the exhibits contained a massive amount of content intended to disparage the central and Hong Kong governments, instilling a psychology of hatred in young children.
Some individuals even allegedly misled teachers and social workers by framing the exhibition as a career planning activity, arranging for a class of Special Educational Needs (SEN) students to visit the store to view the suicide-themed exhibition.
Experts have pointed out that it is extremely dangerous for a bookstore to host activities based on the suicide issue.
If there is a lack of professional counselors to provide timely emotional relief, it easily provokes negative emotions among students, plunging them into crises of depression and self-harm.
The Police National Security Department took enforcement action on June 24, launching a surprise raid on the "Hunter Bookstore" located on Ki Lung Street in Sham Shui Po.
The police arrested the bookstore's two persons in charge, former district councilor Wong Man-huen and her husband Mak, for allegedly violating the offense of "doing an act or acts with seditious intention." Wong is additionally suspected of violating the "money laundering" offense by receiving multiple suspicious payments amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars from overseas anti-China organizations.
Exhibits disparage the Chinese and Hong Kong governments
It is understood that the bookstore operated by the arrested couple continuously sold and displayed publications with seditious intent inside the shop.
These included books that smeared the central and Special Administrative Region governments and endangered national security, some of which were published by anti-government media.
The content reportedly contained glorification of the "black violence" protests, anti-government ideologies, and insinuations smearing national leaders.
During the police enforcement operation, the bookstore was in the middle of hosting an exhibition targeted at students titled "Why Are We Disappointed in the World." Jointly organized by the bookstore and the "𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐊𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞," the content was related to "student suicide," but the exhibits contained a massive amount of messages with seditious intent, such as "disparaging the Chinese and Hong Kong governments and demanding their step-down," "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our Times," and "there is only tyranny."
A "Lennon Wall" imitating those from the protest period was also placed inside the store, allowing exhibition visitors to stick different colored sticky notes on the display boards.
Many of these notes were infiltrated with seditious comments. It is suspected that some individuals used the exhibition to instill anti-government ideologies into students.
Besides displaying suspected illegal items, the "concern for suicide issues" content shown at the exhibition has also been widely questioned.
It is understood that the exhibition content was coordinated by several social work students who did not possess professional social worker qualifications.
One exhibit titled "Youth's Feelings on Living in Hong Kong" was filled with negative words such as "suffocating, pessimistic, oppressive, contradictory, muddling along, and helpless."
However, during the exhibition, the persons in charge did not arrange for any professional personnel to be stationed on-site to explain or guide the visitors regarding the "suicide" content.
An insider from the education sector revealed that some school teachers and social workers were allegedly misled into believing the exhibition was a career planning activity and brought students to visit the store, with one school even arranging for a class of SEN students to attend.
Suspected to have taken her own life due to identity exposure
Some experts pointed out that when discussing the "suicide" issue, merely presenting a massive and repetitive account of negative emotions and social pressures might trigger intense negative emotions in participants, aggravating their sense of powerlessness and despair.
They stated that hosting activities using the suicide issue at a bookstore is extremely dangerous and easily provokes negative emotions in students.
Coupled with the lack of professional counselors to provide timely emotional relief, it is equivalent to leaving their pain unsoothed, causing them to fall into a crisis of depression or even self-harm, with unimaginable consequences.
In fact, it recently circulated online that a 19-year-old female Chinese University of Hong Kong student allegedly committed suicide after accepting an exclusive interview about the "suicide" issue with her university publication.
It is suspected that the report exposed her identity, and the lack of proper follow-up after the interview led her to endure immense mental pressure, ultimately resulting in her taking her own life.
It is reported that the article published the victim's photograph and detailed how she "had purchased a scalpel online, along with disinfectant and gauze, attempting to relieve the heavy pressure from academics and extracurricular activities."
Such descriptions might not only generate copycat behaviors but also make suicide appear as a method to solve problems, leading people to question whether the report became one of the contributing causes of the victim's suicide.
The World Health Organization has clear guidelines regarding the reporting of "suicide" issues, which include avoiding the disclosure of names, photographs, and other identifiable information.
One of the arrestees, thirty-three-year-old Wong Man-huen, is a former district councilor of the disbanded Civic Party.
She graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong's School of Journalism and Communication with a Bachelor of Social Science and a Master's degree in Global Political Economy, and previously worked as a political reporter and social enterprise consultant.
In 2019, she represented the Civic Party to run for the District Council and was elected as the district councilor for the City One constituency in Sha Tin.
She resigned as a district councilor in 2021, and the party was subsequently disbanded in 2024. After stepping down from her district councilor duties, she founded the independent "Hunter Bookstore" in 2022 and co-operated it with her husband, Mak Kai-wing.
Wong Man-huen had previously published anti-China and Hong Kong-disrupting content on social media platforms. Notably, in a 2021 post promoting a Lunar New Year calligraphy printing activity, she provided stamps with words like "Liberate," "Hong Kong," "Revolution of our," and "Times," allowing neighborhood residents and even children to print their own messaging, openly challenging the law.
Over the past few years, she has also continuously published posts smearing the government, featuring content such as "the regime does not want anyone singing a different tune" and "the government is ruthless to its people," continuously propagating anti-government awareness.
No "blacklist" exists
An informed source revealed that some individuals used the bookstore to engage in "soft resistance," frequently inviting people with anti-China and Hong Kong-disrupting backgrounds to give so-called thematic speeches, or collaborating with other anti-government shops to host exhibitions and movie screenings. Most of these activities also required participants to pay.
He said: "This bookstore has long been hanging up a sheep's head and selling dog meat. They occasionally organized so-called 'Human Library' and 'Career Planning' cultural activities, but in essence, it was a political base to instill anti-China and Hong Kong-disrupting ideologies into teenagers."
He further pointed out that some individuals stopped at nothing to poison the minds of students to achieve their political goals, stating that their behavior is exactly the same as the tactics used in the "Sheep Village picture book case" to implant anti-government awareness into young children, which society absolutely cannot tolerate.
The informed source also mentioned that the "Joint Committee on Student Suicide," which co-organized the exhibition with the bookstore this time, also holds a distinct anti-government stance. In the past, they had jointly organized activities with the "Concerning Grassroots' Housing Rights Alliance" founded by anti-government figure Derek Chu Kong-wai, as well as other organizations that held anti-government stances during the protest period, such as "Kids' Dream," "Our Distance with Suicide," and the "Alliance for Children Development Rights," intending to use issues like youth and student suicides to poison students' minds.
Some political figures believe that using anti-suicide activities as a guise to propagate messages of hatred against the government and pushing political agendas onto students with immature minds, while disregarding their welfare, is an outrageous act that must be condemned by all sectors of society.
They noted that the revelation of this bookstore receiving funding from external forces raises suspicions that its operation had a political purpose, using "culture" as a packaging for external forces to spread anti-China and Hong Kong-disrupting messages to the public.
These political figures also pointed out that the government has always been committed to safeguarding Hong Kong's freedom of publication and speech in accordance with the Basic Law, and that there is no "blacklist" for any publications.
However, they stated that this police enforcement action has exposed that some bookstores are using cultural activities like "selling books" and "exhibitions" to spread anti-government awareness and incite hatred, indicating that anti-China and Hong Kong-disrupting forces remain hidden.
With Hong Kong set to host its grand annual Book Fair in July, they warned that strict precautions must be taken to prevent exhibitors with ulterior motives from using the Book Fair as a platform to propagate anti-China and Hong Kong-disrupting messages.
They also reminded all parents and education stakeholders to scrutinize the backgrounds of organizing groups and operators through public information to prevent students and young children from being instilled with anti-government ideologies and inappropriate values.
They stressed that manipulating the suicide issue is extremely dangerous, calling on all sectors of society to unanimously condemn it and urging the police to follow up seriously to protect the welfare of students.
