(Copyright: TVB news, Reporter Jacky Lin Ting Ting)
(For educational purposes only)
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A Hong Kong anti-property-tycoon activist is taking his cause to a new front: bookstores.
And as Jacky Lin reports, he vows to transform the culture of book-reading, buying and selling -- one event at a time.
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In a digital age, online book retailers offer a plethora of choices, competitive prices, as well as convenience.
But that turned many readers away from brick-and-mortar bookshops, even forcing bookstore chains to shutter, like nobody's business.
Going against the grain, "Book Punch" vows to "punch" the power of reading into the consciousness of not just locals, but also people of different colours and cultures through promoting reading about Hong Kong.
Terenia, a patron: Even I just knew this bookstore just recently. But I feel this bookstore tells me about many stories and many histories about the background of Hong Kong.
Anissa, Patron: It's so difficult to (find) Indonesian books in Hong Kong. It's very special. I have some hope maybe in the future, (Hongkongers and Indonesians) will, together, discuss about something.
And that's exactly what the bookstore hopes to achieve.
Pong Yat-ming, Book Punch Founder: Here, the first big event is to invite Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong to read books from Hong Kong with Indonesian translation. That's a very important event.
Apart from that, in December alone, the shop is holding more than 20 other events. That's because Pong believes reading books is more than a sedentary experience, confined within four walls.
Pong Yat-ming: I think books are friends but in real life we have boundaries, like some people with whom we can't make friends. But books breaks these boundary. Human libraries, hiking, reading poems are ways to help you make more friends that you could not otherwise make friends with.
As an owner of a bookstore that aims to bring stories to life, Pong himself is a man with many tales to tell.
As early as ten years ago, Pong's one-man crusade to take on property hegemony garnered headlines. The activist's boycott of chain stores and conglomerates has been a trailblazer for new forms of resistance in money-centric Hong Kong.
Vowing to reimagine the idea of bookselling, Book Punch offers no discount at all. But customers won't feel shortchanged as they'll be given gifts with a cause. They include locally-grown greens and locally-made teabags as some edible food for thoughts.
And looking ahead to 2021...
Pong Yat-ming: I hope more people read, read more kinds of books, they stay here to start reading events on their own and I can sit back and see them do (these events).
Reporter: Jacky Lin TVB news
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