![[Hong Kong News]The water is deep?American “patriotic overseas Chinese leader” was severely sentenced at a sensitive moment, Hong Kong and the United States responded; obliterating memory “sensitive book” was removed from the shelves | Liang Chengyun | Suzhou | Intermediate Court | Espionage | Life imprisonment | Patriotic overseas Chinese leader | National Security Law | | Sensitive Books | June Fourth | Civil Disobedience | Political Books |](https://img.soundofhope.org/2023-05/1-1684147568482.jpg "[Hong Kong News]The water is deep?American “patriotic overseas Chinese leader” was severely sentenced at a sensitive moment, Hong Kong and the United States responded; obliterating memory “sensitive book” was removed from the shelves | Liang Chengyun | Suzhou | Intermediate Court | Espionage | Life imprisonment | Patriotic overseas Chinese leader | National Security Law | | Sensitive Books | June Fourth | Civil Disobedience | Political Books |")
deep water?American “Patriotic Overseas Chinese Leader” Severely Sentenced at Sensitive Moment
The 78-year-old Hong Kong citizen JOHN SHING-WAN LEUNG was sentenced to life imprisonment and deprivation of political rights for life by the Suzhou Intermediate Court on the 15th for “espionage”.
On Monday (15th), the Jiangsu Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Liang Chengyun, a 78-year-old Hong Kong citizen holding a U.S. passport, to life imprisonment for espionage, deprived of political rights for life, and confiscated 500,000 yuan of personal property.
In the briefing, the CCP authorities only said that Liang Chengyun was engaged in espionage activities, but did not specify the specific details of the espionage activities involved.
According to public information, Liang Chengyun was born in Hong Kong. He went to study in the UK at the age of 16, and then worked as a civil servant at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. He has been serving as the chairman of the Liang Cultural Exchange Foundation, and also serves as the director of cultural exchange affairs at Southeast Oklahoma State University in the United States. Since 2003, Liang Chengyun has held various positions in overseas Chinese affairs, including honorary president of Lianyungang Overseas Exchange Association of Jiangsu Province, chairman of Houston-Nanjing Friendship Association of the United States, executive vice president of the National Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China (Peaceful Reunification Association), Jiangsu Overseas Exchange Association Senior advisor and many other positions, known as “patriotic overseas Chinese leader”. Among them, the Peace Reunification Association is an organization under the United Front Work Department of the CCP, and has branches in 22 places in the United States.
Liang Chengyun once took photos with many high-level CCP and political celebrities, including former director of the CCP Foreign Affairs Office Yang Jiechi.
Liang Chengyun has publicly stated his support for the “Hong Kong National Security Law” and “anti-Taiwan independence.”
In 2020, after the CCP’s “National Security Law for Hong Kong” was implemented, the US-China Friendship Promotion Association and the Peace Reunification Council, chaired by Liang Chengyun, issued a statement of support, describing it as “playing the role of Hong Kong’s pinnacle of calming the sea.”
According to a report by “World Celebrity Network” in May 2020, Liang Chengyun and two other overseas Chinese leaders issued a joint statement on the inauguration of the second term of President Tsai Ing-wen of the Republic of China, stating that they “resolutely oppose any “Taiwan independence” behavior”; She has a “Taiwan independence proposition” in her heart, and advises her to “turn back and do it” and accept China’s reunification. Liang Chengyun also took the lead in organizing demonstrations against the “transit” of Taiwan’s former Vice President Lu Xiulian in the United States. There are even photos of him wearing a “Taiwan independence is a dead end” vest on the Internet.
Deng Bingqiang, director of the Hong Kong Government Security Bureau, responded to the incident on the 15th, saying that when the relevant person was arrested in the mainland in 2021, the mainland authorities had notified Hong Kong according to the mutual notification mechanism, and the Hong Kong police had also taken follow-up actions according to the mechanism.
A spokesperson for the US Embassy in Beijing said on the same day that it was aware of reports that an American citizen was recently convicted and sentenced in Suzhou.
“The Department of State’s highest priority is the safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad,” the spokesman said. “Due to privacy concerns, we are making no further comment.”
It is worth noting that on April 15, 2021, Liang Chengyun was “compulsory measures” taken by the State Security Bureau of Suzhou, Jiangsu, but the Suzhou Intermediate Court did not issue a judgment of the first instance until today (May 15). At this time, the relationship between Washington and Beijing is at an all-time low, and it also coincides with the eve of a series of visits by US President Biden to Hiroshima, Japan, to participate in the summit of leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders.
In addition, not long ago, Litang Liang, another “patriotic overseas Chinese leader” and co-chairman of the “China Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification” in the Boston area of the United States, was suspected of providing Beijing authorities with information on overseas Chinese who opposed the CCP, and organized a campaign against The activities of these people were arrested and prosecuted by the US federal authorities, charged with the crime of illegally serving as foreign government agents and monitoring local opponents of the Chinese government.
“Sensitive Books” Removed from Public Libraries Before June 4th
As “June 4th” is approaching, many media have successively disclosed that the Hong Kong Public Library under the Hong Kong Government’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department has removed a large number of “June 4th”, “Civil Disobedience” and social movements and other political books.
“Ming Pao” reported on the 15th that at the end of 2020, there were a total of 468 books and videos related to political themes. At least 40% of the materials and about 195 materials have been removed from the shelves, 96 of which were removed in the past year.
“Light Media” followed up and found out that in 2009, the acting Home Affairs Bureau wrote a reply stating that as of June 15th of that year, the public library had a list of books related to the “June 4th Incident”, with a total of 149 titles involving 1,162 books.
“Light Media” searched 149 titles on May 5th, and found 11 of them. After searching again on the 15th, only 7 titles could be found, and 4 of them belonged to “No item on the shelf in the library for external use”. Borrowing”, that is, only 3 titles out of 149 titles still have the opportunity to borrow.
If you simply search for the keyword “June 4th Incident”, there is only one video material left: “Xiaoping and Hong Kong Series: I will not go back; do more Hong Kong”; but if you search for “Tiananmen Incident”, there is only “The Historical Significance of Tiananmen Incident “, “Deng Xiaoping in 1976 (Volume 1)” two projects.
Political books such as “civil disobedience” and social movements are not immune.
Light Media reported that if you search for keywords such as “umbrella movement” and “anti-extradition law”, you will find nothing; if you search for “anti-extradition law”, only “Defending the City: Tearing Seven Million People Apart” published by Sing Tao Magazine Group political turmoil”. In addition, there are currently many collections that talk about Occupy Central, and they have similar stances. They mainly criticize Occupy Central, and there are also comments written by mainland scholars.
In addition, Ming Pao recently searched and found that books with topics that did not involve national security issues were also removed from the shelves, including the reference book “General Education Concept Raiders” by Xu Chengen, a senior liberal studies teacher; , The political memoir “My Days in the Democratic Party” by Emily Liu, the former chairman of the Democratic Party, etc.
In response to the removal of a large number of books in Hong Kong, Liang Qizhi, a visiting scholar at National Taiwan University and former adjunct lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, posted a post on his Facebook page on the 14th, expressing his willingness to help receive “all kinds of books related to Hong Kong society” and send them to To university libraries in Taiwan.
Former Hong Kong and Taiwan host Zeng Zhihao’s book “Great Power Erection” is also removed from the shelves. He told “Guang Media” that the removal of the shelves is a form of government ideological censorship, which is tantamount to “an official statement that this type of book is not accepted.” He also pointed out that the library will be the last place where books are kept, and the collection becomes a part of history. When books are out of print on the market and the library also takes them off the shelves, there is a “danger of history being wiped out” for books, which will have a great impact on future collections.
Regarding Taiwan libraries receiving books that have been taken off shelves in Hong Kong, Zeng Zhihao believes that “it must be done (things), (because) this is the way for everyone to save memories.”
Last month, the New York Times published an article by Lin Mulian, describing how the collective memory of Hong Kong people has been cleaned from all aspects in recent years.
The article pointed out that after the implementation of the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law, many Hong Kong media have ceased operations, including the Hong Kong Apple Daily, whose founder Li Zhiying and six senior executives were charged with conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. Some defunct media outlets pulled reports from the Internet, “this is how history is erased”.
The article also believes that the forced disbandment of multiple political parties and civic groups, the revision of the electoral system, and the implementation of patriotic education in civil servants and schools show that the authorities’ rewriting of Hong Kong’s history to suppress speech is being quickly implemented to “accelerate the destruction of collective memory.”
However, Lin Mulian said that the collective memory of Hong Kong people cannot be completely erased, because there are more and more Hong Kong people communities overseas.
Disney’s eight-year eclipse, the world’s largest theme park opens in November
Mok Wai Ting, Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, announced the results on the 15th. Disney’s performance has been “red” for eight consecutive years, and its net loss narrowed to 2.1 billion last year.
In the fiscal year ending September 2022, Hong Kong Disneyland’s revenue rose 31% year-on-year to 2.2 billion yuan, and its net loss narrowed 12% year-on-year to 2.1 billion yuan. This is Disney’s eighth consecutive year of losses.
During the period, the total number of visitors increased by 22% to 3.4 million. The number of local guests and the number of annual ticket members reached new highs, both of which increased by 22% year-on-year. The park’s per capita consumption and per room guest consumption recorded an increase of 11% and 7% respectively.
In addition, the overall occupancy rate of hotels in the resort increased by 3 percentage points to 24%, and the annual hotel utilization rate was 78%.
CEO Mok Wai Ting said that in the face of the continuous epidemic and headwinds everywhere, we can still see an overall improvement in performance. The “Wonderful Dream Castle” and the “Multimedia Night Castle Show” that debuted in the middle of last year are the keys to turning around the performance.
Mok Wai Ting also announced a series of new projects in the second half of this year, including that the park will operate 6 or 7 days a week from the middle of next month, Disney’s Hollywood Hotel will reopen in mid-July, and the bronze statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse ” Dream Builder” will be unveiled in October, and the world‘s first and largest “Frozen” theme park will open in November.
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy party, the Civic Party, re-election at the end of last year was “broken” because no one signed up to participate. The party will hold a special general meeting next Saturday (27th) to decide on a motion for voluntary liquidation of shareholders. Civic Party Chairman Liang Jiajie described the liquidation decision as imperative.
Leung Ka Kit confirmed on the 15th that a special general meeting will be held when asked by the commercial radio station. He also pointed out that the decision to liquidate has “no turning point”. The meeting is just a necessary legal procedure and will not be discussed at the meeting.
Liang Jiajie said that once the liquidation motion is passed, the Civic Party will be taken over by the liquidator, and the asset disposal process will begin immediately. After reviewing the debt arrangements, the remaining assets will be donated to charity as required.
Liang Jiajie pointed out that he must have feelings about the end of the political party he has been in for many years, but he thinks it is not the right time to express it publicly.