The life of Jimmy Lai summarizes the tensions between pro-democratic activism and the risks of facing authoritarianism in a region under constant surveillance by Beijing. But who is Jimmy Lai? The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai became a billionaire, Hong Kong’s biggest dissident and China’s most feared critic is the biography written by Mark L. Cliffordformer newspaper editor in Hong Kong and human rights advocate.
The book addresses the life of Jimmy Lai, a media mogul who, after amassing her fortune in the world of fashion, became a central figure of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. Clifford presents Lai as a man who, despite his contradictions, stood firm in the face of the Chinese government’s repression, sacrificing his freedom in defense of democratic values.
The story is not limited to praising his achievements, but also shows controversial aspects of his life, such as the excesses of the capitalism he promoted and the sensationalist strategies of his media. However, the main focus is his role as a critic of the Chinese regime and his transformation into a symbol of resistance after being detained in 2020 under Beijing’s strict national security law. Clifford describes Lai as a man capable of “rising above physical prison to find himself mentally freer than ever.”
Jimmy Lai was born in the province of Guangdongsouth of Chinaduring the era of civil war. His childhood was marked by poverty and the abuses of the communist regime Mao Zedong. His mother was forced to kneel on broken glass by police officers. Communist Partywhile food was scarce to the point that Lai and his family survived by eating field mice. Lai remembers that, as a child, he collected cigarette butts to sell the leftover tobacco and that his father, in a desperate act, tried to commit suicide in the same room where the little boy rested.
At the age of 12, Lai decided to flee to Hong Kong alone.. At that time, the British colony offered a radical contrast to communist China, with its environment steeped in Anglo-European culture. Lai worked in textile factories, where he suffered an accident that cost him the tip of a finger.
Over time, he became an entrepreneur and founded his own factory, taking advantage of the opportunities in the manufacturing market. fast fashion. In this context, it became a fervent defender of Western valueswho deeply admired the principles of free market and distributing copies of The road of servitudeof Friedrich Hayekamong its employees. Lai also built relationships with figures such as Milton Friedmanestablishing himself as an enthusiast of liberal capitalism.
The turning point in Lai’s life came in 1989after the bloody repression by the Chinese government against protesters in Tiananmen Square. “I had no feelings for China until Tiananmen Square happened,” he said in an interview. “Suddenly, it was like my mother was calling me in the dead of the night and my heart opened.” This event motivated him to redirect his career and resources towards activism, founding media such as Next Magazine and the newspaper AppleDaily. Both became key platforms for denounce the Beijing abuses and support the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
In 2014, during the Umbrella MovementLai joined protesters demanding greater autonomy from Chinese central government control. He was seen leading from the streets, sitting in a lawn chair next to a fast food restaurant. His newspaper supported the protests with constant and direct coveragestanding out as one of the few media outlets in Hong Kong willing to openly challenge the authorities.
On August 10, 2020Lai was arrested after a massive raid on the offices of the AppleDaily. Police accused him of violating the new national security law for “collusion with foreign powers,” a charge that could sentence him to life in prison. After his arrest, he sent a laconic message to his collaborators via WhatsApp: “Delete everything.” At his trial, held in the fall of 2023, Lai pleaded not guilty and explained that his intention was simply to show “the reality” of the mood in Hong Kong.
Since then, he has remained in prison, much of the time in solitary confinement. According to Clifford, Lai made a conscious decision to stay in Hong Kong rather than escape, fully aware that he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. “I called my people to fight,” he told the former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky. “I can’t let them down.”
Although The Troublemaker praises Lai’s personal sacrifice and bravery in confronting Beijing, it also explores the contradictions of his life. On the one hand, it is presented as a defender of economic freedom and Western values, but, on the other hand, his business approach was not without criticism. During his early years as a tycoon, Lai displayed the excesses of ostentatious wealthtraveling in a Rolls-Royce golden and maintaining a private zoo with peacocks, a monkey, a bear and other exotic animals.
Furthermore, the journalism of its media was not without controversy. Clifford points out that his publications often resorted to sensationalismfrom sending paparazzi on scooters to cover fatal accidents to publishing explicit reviews of prostitution in Hong Kong. These aspects add a complex layer to the portrait of a man who, although criticized, continues to be seen as a symbol of resistance against oppression.
Clifford describes Lai as a “martyr of capitalism and the Western way of life”but warns about the limitations of this approach. Through his life and his struggle, Lai exposes the tensions between democratic ideals and inequalities inherent to the free market.
His case not only reflects the growing repression in Hong Kong, but also invites questions about the ability of Western values to meet the challenges of an increasingly polarized world.
Today, from his cell, Jimmy Lai remains a symbol for those who defend the autonomy of Hong Kong and the democratic rights in a region increasingly controlled by Beijing. Its story, marked by personal sacrifices and controversies, encapsulates the complexities of a struggle that, far from having ended, continues to resonate within and outside the territory.
Source: The New York Times
