"Confessions of a Bell Toller" is Chu's account of a life spent helping the underprivileged and struggling against China's authoritarian rule, including by co-organising a months-long demonstration for universal suffrage in Hong Kong in 2014 for which he received a suspended jail sentence.
In an interview from Taiwan, where he lives in self-imposed exile, Chu told AFP the redacted parts of his memoir -- styled as empty boxes -- deal with an earlier untold story.
He was part of a secret campaign to spirit hundreds of dissidents out of China after Beijing's deadly crackdown on democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 -- but readers of the book won't learn any of the details.
"I wanted to keep the pages simply blank as a protest to the political censorship imposed by the Hong Kong authorities, but my editor chose the little boxes," Chu said.
The memoir's title comes from a speech Chu delivered in court in 2019, after he was convicted of "conspiracy to cause public nuisance" for helping to organise the 2014 protests.
"I am willing to become a brave bell toller to wake the sleeping souls in a ridiculous time, in an authoritarian country, in a distorted society," Chu said at the time.
Chu told AFP that he and other leaders of the 2014 protests had warned then that a more radical movement would arise if their calls for political reform were rejected.
Five years later, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets to demand greater freedoms in enormous, sometimes violent, protests.
Beijing responded with a harsh crackdown on the city's once-vibrant civil society, enacting a sweeping national security law that has effectively squashed dissent.
- A changed government -
Born in Hong Kong in 1944, Chu spent his childhood with his grandmother in southern China, where his earliest memories of hunger and social unrest cemented his resentment of the Chinese Communist Party.
After his grandmother's death, he spent several years living rough on the streets of Hong Kong before being taken in by a Christian fellowship.
In 1969 he went to study theology in Taiwan, where he met the Baptist minister Chow Lien-hwa, who served as chaplain to President Chiang Kai-shek while also aiding political dissidents who opposed his regime.
From Chow, Chu wrote in the memoir that he came to believe a man of God must "not only devote (himself) to the church, but also to social progress and democratisation of his country".
Chu eventually returned to Hong Kong, where he built a church centre that cared for the poor, helped smuggle mainland activists to safety, and became a founding member of a group that commemorated the Tiananmen massacre with an annual candlelight vigil -- one that has since been effectively banned.
Later, he co-led the 2014 push for voting rights that saw fellow activists Benny Tai and Chan Kin-man sentenced to sixteen months in prison.
Tai is currently facing a charge of "conspiracy to subvert state power" and has been behind bars for over 1,000 days.
"I think Tai is serving the jail term for the Hong Kong people," Chu said of his old friend, choking back sobs.
"I think the government has changed... It can't accept any voices other than those agreeing with it."
- Keeping the faith -Chu's book was published on November 24, the first anniversary of the "white paper" protests that began as a response to China's harsh coronavirus restrictions but later grew to encompass calls for democracy.
Chu said the redacted pages of his book are also a nod to these protests, named for the blank sheets of paper held up by participants to symbolize censorship.
He left Hong Kong in December 2020, after pro-Beijing newspapers alleged he had helped democracy protesters attempt to flee to Taiwan in a speedboat, an accusation the reverend saw as "a very strong signal" of danger.
Although he has no plans to return, he said he hopes his book encourages younger generations not to give up.
"Young people can overcome the difficulties they are now facing, as long as they do not surrender their faith," he said.
Activist condemns Hong Kong's bounties on overseas dissenters
Washington (AFP) Dec 16, 2023 -
An overseas activist wanted by Hong Kong on Friday decried bounties offered for information on her and four colleagues, calling it part of China's campaign to intimidate critics and silence dissent.
Hong Kong police on Thursday announced hefty rewards for help catching Frances Hui and fellow activists accused of national security crimes.
"The Hong Kong government deliberately took a high-profile way to issue bounties for the arrest of overseas activists," Hui said at Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank.
"They wanted to create a chilling effect on the community at large and to isolate us."
The HK$1,000,000 ($128,000) bounties, the second batch of rewards offered by Hong Kong police pursuing fugitives, were swiftly condemned by the United States and Britain, with London calling them "a threat to our democracy and fundamental human rights.
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken on Friday decried Hong Kong's "transnational repression" and "the deterioration of that city's once proud tradition of respecting the rule of law."
"We strongly oppose any efforts to intimidate and silence individuals who choose to make the United States their home and will not waver in standing up for those who are targeted simply for exercising their human rights," he said in a statement.
Hui said she is grieving the recent passing of her grandmother, and her pain is compounded by her inability to attend the funeral back home.
"This is one of the things that many of us in exile have to accept and cope with, which is the chances of not being able to spend time and be there for people who hold weight in our lives," Hui said, her voice trembling.
Nevertheless, Hui vowed to continue her campaign for sanctions against officials in Hong Kong and China.
"I call on the international community, particularly the US, the UK and Australia, where the bountied individuals are residing, to fight against the CCP's transnational repression, interference and international human rights abuses," she said, referring to China's Communist Party.
The five activists fled Hong Kong after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the financial hub in 2020 to quash dissent after massive pro-democracy protests.
Hui's colleagues have been identified as Britain-based Simon Cheng as well as Joey Siu, Fok Ka-chi and Choi Ming-da.
Speaking alongside Hui, Piero Tozzi, head of a China monitoring group in the US Congress, also called for sanctioning prosecutors and judges in China and Hong Kong who are involved in the crackdown.
"What we see is not rule of law, but rule by law and using law as a tool to harass and intimidate and in violation of that basic law," he said.
Beijing defended the bounties as necessary and lashed out at Washington and London.
"By cheering on these anti-China individuals that are bringing havoc to Hong Kong, the United States and Britain are exposing their malicious intentions in messing up Hong Kong," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in Beijing.
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