The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong's Greatest Dissident, and China's Most...

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Mark L. Clifford

The Troublemaker

How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong's Greatest Dissident, and China's Most Feared...

Mark L. Clifford

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English

The Free Press
12 February 2025

Biography: historical, political & military; Political oppression & persecution; Political activism; Political subversion

The astonishing story of the billionaire businessman Jimmy Lai who became one of Hong Kong’s leading activists for democracy and is today China’s most famous political prisoner.

Jimmy Lai escaped mainland China when he was twelve years old, at the height of a famine that killed tens of millions. In Hong Kong, he hustled; no work was beneath him, and he often slept on a table in a clothing factory where he did odd jobs. At twenty-one, he was running a factory. By his mid-twenties, he owned one and was supplying sweaters and shirts to some of the biggest brands in the United States, from Polo to The Limited. His ideas about retail led him to create Giordano in 1981, and with it “fast fashion.” A restless entrepreneur, as Giordano prepared to go public, he was thinking about a dining concept that would disrupt Hong Kong’s fast-food industry. But then came the Tiananmen Square democracy protest and the massacre of 1989.

His reaction to the violence was to enter the media business to push China toward more freedoms. He started a magazine, Next, to advocate for democracy in Hong Kong. Then, just two years before the city was to return to Chinese control, he founded the Apple Daily newspaper. Its mix of bold graphics, gossip, local news, and opposition to the Chinese Communist Party was an immediate hit. For more than two decades, Lai used Apple and Next as part of a personal push for democracy—in weekly columns, at rallies and marches, and, memorably, sitting in front of a tent during the 2014 Occupy Central movement.

Lai took his activism abroad, traveling frequently to Washington, where he was well known in Congress and in political circles. China reacted with fury in 2019 when he met with Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. A draconian new security law came into effect in Hong Kong in mid-2020, effectively making free speech a crime and censorship a fact. Lai was its most important target. Apple Daily was raided on August 10, 2020. He was arrested and held without bail before being convicted of trumped-up charges ranging from lighting a candle (“incitement to riot”) to violating a clause in his company’s lease (“fraud”). At the end of 2023, a lengthy trial began alleging “collusion with foreign forces” and printing seditious materials. China’s most famous political prisoner has been in jail for more than 1,100 days and could spend the rest of his life there. The Troublemaker is his story.

By: Mark L. Clifford
Imprint: The Free Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 467g
ISBN: 9781668027691
ISBN 10: 1668027690
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 12 February 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Mark L. Clifford is president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, an NGO dedicated to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law for the people of Hong Kong. Previously, he was executive director of the Hong Kong–based Asia Business Council, and a board director at Next Digital, the Hong Kong media giant founded and majority-owned by Jimmy Lai. During his twenty-eight years in Hong Kong, he served as editor-in-chief of both English-language newspapers, the South China Morning Post and The Standard, of which he was also publisher. He holds a PhD in Hong Kong history from the University of Hong Kong. Clifford has won numerous journalism, academic, and book awards, and is the author of Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World: What China’s Crackdown Reveals About Its Plans to End Freedom Everywhere.

Reviews for The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong's Greatest Dissident, and China's Most Feared Critic

""Lai’s journey — from an impoverished childhood in China’s southern Guangdong province during the Chinese civil war era to becoming one of Hong Kong’s richest men — is a genuinely gripping yarn."" -- Kevin Peraino * The New York Times * ""A sympathetic and inspiring biography. . . . Prison was the only way this irrepressible—no, magnificently stubborn—man could be silenced."" -- Tunku Varadarajan * The Wall Street Journal * ""Through conversations with Lai and those who know him best, Clifford portrays a man equal parts mythical and ordinary, who has poured his considerable resources into opposing an oppressive regime—at great personal cost."" -- Rishi Iyengar * Foreign Policy * ""Fascinating. . . . Clifford skillfully sketches the life of a remarkable man, weaving it through the tragic history of Hong Kong."" -- Dan Blumenthal * The Washington Free Beacon * ""An extraordinary life story—from rags to riches to political prisoner—sheds light on Hong Kong’s struggle for democracy in this rousing biography. . . . An appealing portrait of a colorful, ebullient figure full of charm and moxie who in prison becomes near-saintly, enduring persecution with patient humility. It’s a spirited profile in defiance."" * Publishers Weekly * ""I didn’t know until I read Mark L. Clifford’s gripping new biography, The Troublemaker, is what an innovative publisher Lai was. . . . My profound hope is that he is not only freed but comes to live in the U.S. and buys the Washington Post. I’d be a cub reporter for him in a heartbeat."" -- Tina Brown