Journal founder puts down pen

The founder of the Hong Kong Economic Journal, Lam Shan-muk, has bid farewell to readers of his column in the Chinese newspaper after 48 years.

Lam, better known as his pen name Lam Hang-chi, wrote in the paper published yesterday that the goodbye was "a free choice made when freedom of choice still exists" and when he is still in good health in his 80s.

He said he had worked in different positions at HKEJ for 48 years and 27 days, during which he was happy physically and mentally as he could "speak his mind freely and as much as he wanted to," adding he wants to live his days as comfortably as ever. The farewell came in a side note to his last column, which was about Hong Kong's stock market being disconnected from Western investment systems.

Lam founded the Chinese media with his wife, Lok Yau-mui, and veteran media worker Law Chi-ping in 1973 and wrote the editorial until 1997, when he passed the management of the newspaper to his daughter, Lam Joy-shan.

In 2006, Richard Li Tzar-kai, the son of tycoon Li Ka-shing, bought 50 percent of the newspaper's shares and became the sole owner in 2014.