Songs. Concerts. Library books. Pro-democracy singer blacklists. Hong Kong's cultural censorship is thorough, petty, and relentless — which is rather the point.

When authoritarian systems go after culture, they start with the obvious targets: newspapers, activists, legislators. Then they get to work on everything else. Hong Kong's post-NSL cultural crackdown has proceeded with impressive comprehensiveness through music, libraries, theatre, and film.

In January 2022, RTHK — Hong Kong's public broadcaster — reportedly told disc jockeys not to play music by ten artists, including Cantopop stars Denise Ho and Anthony Wong Yiu-ming. Both are outspoken democracy supporters. The broadcaster denied having a blacklist. The music stopped playing anyway.

"Glory to Hong Kong" — the protest anthem from 2019 — was banned by court injunction in May 2024, declared a "weapon" used to incite violence. The song is a melody. Melodies, apparently, now require court orders.

Library shelves were purged of books by pro-democracy figures. Joshua Wong's writings disappeared. Works by Chinese-American activist Yu Jie were removed. Hong Kong Nationalism, the editorial board publication of the Hong Kong University Students' Union, vanished from the catalogue. The removals were to "avoid breaking the law," the Leisure and Cultural Services Department explained, without apparent irony.

Concerts have been cancelled with no stated reason for artists perceived as politically undesirable. In December 2024, Cantopop singer Pong Nan's concert at a government-managed venue was cancelled. The pattern is consistent: no formal accusation, no legal process, just the quiet removal of artists who held the wrong opinions at the wrong time in Hong Kong history.

Apple Daily UK covers these stories because they are part of the same story as the criminal trials. Censorship is not a single event. It is a climate. Every cancelled concert and pulled library book — read the full record at Apple Daily UK is a message to every artist, writer, and journalist still in Hong Kong: the range of acceptable expression is shrinking, and it is not done shrinking yet.