Gui Minhai
| Gui Minhai | |
|---|---|
| Chinese name | 桂民海 |
| Pinyin | guì mín hǎi (Mandarin) |
| Yale | gwái man hōi (Cantonese) |
| Birth name | 桂敏海 |
| Ethnicity | Han Chinese |
| Born | 5 May 1964 Ningbo |
| Occupation | Writer, publisher |
| Years active | 2006– |
| Alma mater | Peking University (bachelor 1985), University of Gothenburg (MA 1990, PhD 1996) |
| Website | freeguiminhai |
| Also known as | Michael Gui, Ah Hai (阿海) |
Gui Minhai (Chinese:桂敏海 or 桂民海), also known as Michael Gui, (born 5 May 1964) is a Chinese-born Swedish scholar and book publisher. He is a prolific author of books about Chinese politics and political figures; Gui authored around 200 books during his ten-year career under the pen-name Ah Hai (阿海). and is one of three shareholders of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong.
Gui went missing in Thailand in late 2015, one of five men who vanished in a string of incidents known as the Causeway Bay Books disappearances. The case ignited fears locally and in Britain over the collapse of "one country, two systems", over the possibility that people could be subject to rendition from Hong Kong and from other countries by Chinese law enforcement. The Chinese government was silent about holding him in custody for three months, at which point a controversial video confession was broadcast on mainland media. In it, Gui said that he had returned to mainland China and surrendered to the authorities of his own volition. He appeared to indicate that he was prepared to follow the course of justice in China, while waiving protection as a Swedish citizen.
Many observers expressed doubts about the sincerity and credibility of Gui's confession.The Washington Post described the narrative as "messy and incoherent, blending possible fact with what seems like outright fiction". Chinese state media said in late February 2016 that Gui was being held for "illegal business operations". He is alleged to have knowingly distributed books not approved by China's press and publication authority since October 2014. Gui remains in detention in China a year after his disappearance.
Born in Ningbo in 1964, Gui graduated from Peking University with a bachelor's degree in history in 1985. Gui served as editor to the People's Education Press until 1988, when he departed for Sweden, and enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Gothenburg. After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he obtained Swedish residency, and later became a naturalised citizen of Sweden, upon which he renounced his Chinese citizenship. According to his daughter, he was attracted to the beauty of his adopted country and the freedom he felt living there. Gui obtained his PhD in 1996. Gui's wife is also a naturalised Swedish citizen; the couple's daughter was born in 1994.
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