Gui Minhai

Gui Minhai[1][2][3] (born 5 May 1964 in Ningbo, Zhejiang) is a Chinese–born Swedish scholar, and book publisher. He is a prolific author on books about Chinese politics and has written under the pen name AHai (阿海).[4][5] Gui is one of three shareholders of Causeway Bay Books, and one of five men who went missing in late 2015 in an incident known as Causeway Bay Books disappearances.

Biography

A fresh Peking University graduate from the History Department, Gui served as editor to the People's Education Press until 1988, when he departed to study at University of Gothenburg in Sweden. After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he became a naturalised citizen of Sweden, PhD, University of Gothenburg office until Year 1999. In 1999, Gui returned to Ningbo from Sweden, started a company offering environmental engineering services, he served as director and general manager.[6] In December 2003, Gui was involved in a drunk driving incident, in which a female student died; the Ningbo Municipal Intermediate People's Court ruled the following August that Gui Minhai had committed traffic crime. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, suspended for two years.[5][7]

He joined a local affiliate of 2003 Nordpool Consulting of Germany as a consultant, and in 2006 joined the Chinese chapter of PEN International, through which he became acquainted with professionals in Hong Kong International PEN. In 2012 Gui set up Mighty Current Media in Hong Kong. The company in 2014 acquired the Causeway Bay Bookstore.[8]

Disappearance

On 17 October 2015 Gui was taken away from his apartment in Pattaya, Thailand by a man. Two weeks later, four men came to search his apartment ostensibly for his computer but left without it.[9][10]

17 January 2016, Xinhua News Agency published an article alleging that a person by the name of Gui Minhai (article used the homonym "桂敏海") was involved in a traffic accident in Ningbo in December 2003 and was sentenced imprisonment for two years, suspended for two years, but that he borrowed an identity card and fled abroad as a tourist in November 2004. Other than the name, the Xinhua article had a discrepancy in his reported age, stated to be 46 years in 2005, compared with the details in Gui's Swedish passport.[11][12]). The Xinhua article claiming that Gui gave himself up to public security organs in October 2015. A video confession was released at the same time. In it, a tearful Gui said: "Returning to the Chinese mainland and surrendering was my personal choice and had nothing to do with anyone else. I should shoulder my responsibility and I don’t want any individual or institutions to interfere, or viciously hype up my return". Gui also said, “Although I have Swedish citizenship, I truly feel that I am still Chinese — my roots are in China. So I hope Sweden can respect my personal choice, respect my rights and privacy of my personal choice and allow me to resolve my own problems”. Criminal investigations on other charges were said to be in progress.[13][14]

Independent Chinese PEN president Bei Ling, a friend of Gui, confirmed that there was indeed a drunk driving case involving Gui in which a young woman was killed,[15] but he believes that Gui's "abduction" and the accident are unrelated. Bei said that there was no official record of Gui Minhai's departure from Thailand. He inferred that Gui could not have "surrendered" as kidnapping is a violation of international law.[16] Gui's daughter dismissed the assertion that her father had returned to the mainland voluntarily.[14] Sweden has repeatedly requested transparence from China, and summoned the Thai ambassador in December for information. After the appearance of the video confession, Swedish diplomats in Beijing still had “not received any information about his whereabouts” from Chinese authorities[14]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ "北京大学历史学系本科1981级同学录". Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  2. ↑ 桂敏海用本名，與北大歷史系同級同學郭森，合譯瑞典學者文章："第三世界的神话和理论－《国外社会科学》". 国家哲学社会科学学术期刊数据库.
  3. ↑ "80年代，閱讀至少還有發抖的時刻——對話學者許志強". 作文通訊：錦瑟 (1): 頁40—44. 2014. 我記得我讀大學時，北大的桂敏海，他本人是寧波人，因为我同學跟他是老鄉，他也到這裏來，帶來他辦的雜誌。
  4. 1 2 雍正十年1732:那条瑞典船的故事 平装 – 2006年1月1日 Amazon.com
  5. 1 2 "Missing Man Back in China, Confessing to Fatal Crime". The New York Times. 18 January 2016.
  6. ↑ "我們與寧波共繁榮——首屆在甬外商投資企業家論壇發言選載". 寧波通訊 (in Chinese) (1): 頁26—28. 2001. 創業之路在故鄉－唐友環保工程（寧波）有限公司董事長兼總經理桂敏海……這一點，歐洲人反而重視，我在瑞典時就給很多瑞典企業講過跨文化交流的課
  7. ↑ "中国老年 Issues 1–12, 中国老年杂志社, 2005".
  8. ↑ "內地針對的是桂民海". Apple Daily (in Chinese).
  9. ↑ "桂民海發神秘訊息予女　員工料失蹤或因新書". Oriental Daily News (in Chinese). 14 November 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  10. ↑ "銅鑼灣書店東主失蹤後　曾有四人搜掠其住所　BBC：桂民海擬出版習近平內幕書" (in Chinese). 立場新聞. 13 November 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  11. ↑ "[今日说法]本期话题：求证(2005年4月8日)" (in Chinese). China Central Television. 11 April 2005. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "中国茉莉花革命".
  13. ↑ "香港铜锣湾书店老板桂敏海"失踪"事件调查" (in Chinese). Xinhua News Agency. 17 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  14. 1 2 3 "Mystery deepens as two missing Hong Kong men surface in mainland China". Los Angeles Times. 20 January 2016.
  15. ↑ "密友：桂民海失踪前會合一中國男子 四男子後進住所欲拿電腦". South China Morning Post (in Chinese). 18 January 2016.
  16. ↑ "香港铜锣湾书店案：瑞典寻求中国澄清桂民海下落" (in Chinese). BBC. 18 January 2016.

External links

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