For years, a handful of independent bookshops in Hong Kong have offered visitors from mainland China the chance to read and discuss books that are hard to find at home, but many of those doors are now closing.
Chen Zhu travels from mainland China to Hong Kong every month, and there is one place she always visits: Hunter Bookstore.
Shops like it have stocked history, politics, philosophy and literature, alongside talks and events where readers could gather and exchange ideas.
“It was never just about buying a book. It was about being in a room where you could ask questions out loud.”
For many mainland visitors, the appeal lies less in any single book than in the chance to browse freely and ask questions about their own society.
Booksellers say the environment has become more difficult in recent years, with rising rents, falling footfall and a changed political climate all adding pressure.
Hong Kong's national security law, introduced in 2020, and subsequent legislation have reshaped the city's civic life, and some publishers and shop owners have chosen to scale back or close.
Booksellers who remain in the city say they now think carefully about which titles to display and which events to host, and some report fewer visitors from the mainland than in previous years. Others say a loyal core of readers continues to seek them out.
Officials have said the laws are needed to ensure stability and that legitimate rights and freedoms remain protected.
Some independent booksellers have opened shops overseas, in cities with large Chinese-speaking communities, hoping to preserve a space for open debate.
For regular readers, each closure marks the loss of more than simply a place to buy books.
