Pei Ho used to have four bookshops. Now it has three, and one of them is mostly greeting cards.

Police raided at least seven bookshops across Hong Kong on Wednesday, seizing stock flagged as seditious under the National Security Law. RTHK reported arrests. The titles involved have not been named publicly. Shop owners got the usual: premises cleared, notices posted, business interrupted on a Wednesday afternoon when the rent is still due Thursday. One Sham Shui Po shopkeeper told a neighbour the officers were polite. That's something, I suppose.

The thing is, the books were already not selling. The soft shutdown has been going on for years -- titles disappear from shelves quietly, publishers fold, imports dry up. Wednesday was the loud version of something that has been happening without much noise since 2021. What changed is not the policy. What changed is that someone decided the quiet version was done. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department will say nothing useful. The publishers in question -- none of the major chains are commenting -- have until the end of the week to file any legal representation over the seized inventory, per standard NSL procedure.