Jimmy Lai celebrated his 76th day in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison in Hong Kong on December 8, 2024, as many people around the world were getting ready for the Christmas vacation. How did this aged media magnate become one of China’s most high-profile captives of consciousness? What compelled him? Answers to these questions can be found in a new memoir, The Agitator: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong’s Greatest Dissident, and China’s Most Thought Scholar.
The book was written by Mark Clifford, who worked closely with Lai for many years. He served on the board of directors of Lai’s media corporation, Next Digital, until Hong Kong government shut the business down in 2021 to condemn Lai for his political engagement.
Like a normal memoir, The Troublemaker tells Lai’s lifestyle tale from birth to his imprisonment, as well as the continuous trial. Lai’s support for freedom and democracy is based on three distinct experience: the hardship he experienced as a child in mainland China, which gave him a dislike for socialism, his extraordinary transition from rags to riches in Hong Kong, which gave him a sense of economic and political liberty, and his Catholic devotion, which gave him a moral compass and a belief in the inborn dignity of each person.
What resonates with me the most is Lai’s childhood experience, as I was also born and raised in China. Lai was born into a wealthy family in southern China. However, the local authorities seize his family’s property and redistribute it to others after the Communists took control of the nation in 1949. Lai’s father was able to flee to Hong Kong, while his mother was taken to a labor camp. Lai had to work as a porter at a nearby train station along the Kowloon-Canton Railway at the age of eight to support himself and his younger siblings.
One of the few ways to connect a remote China to the outside world was via the railroad. Some Hong Kong residents traveled by train to visit their relatives in mainland China, where they brought their luggage stuffed with food and essentials. Lai realized that the Hong Kong visitors were more well-fed and well-dressed, which suggested that the Communist Party’s version of the world was worse. Young Lai’s profound awakening was aided by the stark contrast between government propaganda and reality. In 1961, during the Great Chinese Famine, he escaped China and moved to Hong Kong.
At age 13, Lai fled to Hong Kong, smuggled on a fishing boat with 40 other mainlanders. The British Navy hid them in the hold to avoid being spotted. The journey was so tumultuous Lai later recalled, “everyone was vomiting”.
Years later, he recalls his first meal in Hong Kong as the first time he saw so much food. For the first time ever, I understood that food is freedom. He found work at a garment factory, as his father could no longer support him after remarrying.
Through hard work, Lai founded his clothing company, Giordano, which became known for vibrant, affordable casual wear. When Giordano was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1991, Lai’s incredible journey turned him into a multimillionaire, showcasing the power of resilience and vision.
Due to his deep interest in political philosophy and his drive for making money, Lai distinguished himself among Hong Kong’s wealthy elite. He attributed influences like Friedrich Hayek, an economist and political philosopher from Austria, and Lai’s book The Road to Serfdom, which raised concerns about socialism’s threat and gave him inspiration to fight for freedom.
His pivotal moment came in 1989 when demonstrators, primarily college students, led a pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. By raising money and creating T-shirts for the protesters, Lai joined other Hong Kong residents in back the protests. The brutal crackdown by the Chinese Communist Party on June 4 sparked a wave of protests in Hong Kong, including Lai.
Lai later founded a media empire that supported democracy and free markets, including the Next magazine and Apple Daily and which criticized the Chinese Communist Party (CCP ) and advocated for free markets. In a column, he declared:” Yes, I am anti-Communist. I detest everything that encircles personal freedom, and I am a total opponent of the Communist Party. His publications were credited with promoting the city’s seven million residents ‘ political and civic engagement and promoting hundreds of thousands, eventually millions, to take part in the city’s various pro-democracy protests between 2003 and 2019.
Lai’s support for religion was made even stronger by his conversion to Christianity in 1997. The city’s Catholic community, largely due to its strong belief in human rights and the dignity of individuals, had a significant role in promoting democracy and freedom in Hong Kong, as noted by Chris Patten, Hong Kong’s final British governor.
Jimmy Lai frequently appeared on the front lines of various pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong, not just through his media empire, but also through his media empire. He also lobbied foreign leaders, including former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to impose sanctions on Chinese officials who defied Hong Kong residents ‘ human rights. In exchange for business favors from Beijing, Lai’s political activism set him apart from other wealthy people in Hong Kong.
Lai was fully aware of Beijing’s intolerance towards critics, yet he remained defiant. He chose to remain in Hong Kong despite the security that his British passport and overseas properties offered. His unwavering conviction that he was a Christian and a resident made him willing to give up his life for what he thought was a noble cause.
Labeled a” troublemaker” by Hong Kong authorities, Lai was jailed on December 31, 2020, under the harsh National Security Law. A year later, Hong Kong police raided Apple Daily, arrested six staff members, and permanently shut down the newspaper and Lai’s Next Media company.
Since his arrest, Lai has been placed in solitary confinement. He frequently spends his time imprisoning himself by depicting the Virgin Mary and Christ on the cross. He has received multiple prison sentences for his four-year imprisonment for organizing events in 2019 and lighting a candle to honor the Tiananmen Massacre on June 4, 2020. The trial for the most serious charges against him, including” colluding with foreign forces,” commenced in the middle of December 2024. If convicted, Lai could face the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison.
This book serves many purposes. It examines the relationship between China and Hong Kong as it develops in the present. It serves as a plea for assistance, as Lai’s family and supporters have been attempting to put international pressure on Beijing to secure his release. Additionally, it serves as a stark warning that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP ) cannot be trusted. The CCP has consistently eroded much of the city’s and its residents ‘ rights and freedoms in spite of their promise to keep Hong Kong’s economic and political freedoms for 50 years.
Above all, Jimmy Lai’s extraordinary life story and brave political activism should inspire us to follow his example. Even if it means risking becoming a troublemaker in the eyes of the authorities, freedom is worth fighting for.
