Knife attack on Kevin Lau

Kevin Lau, former editor-in-chief of the Hong Kong daily newspaper Ming Pao, was attacked in the morning of 26 February 2014 as he was getting out of his car in Lei King Wan, Hong Kong by two men who were waiting for him. Lau suffered stab wounds to his back and legs. He was rushed to hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery. The police and most commentators agree that it was a triad-style attack aimed at maiming without killing.

While pro-establishment figures sought to be prudent concerning any link between the attack and press freedom, local journalists and the local press saw the attack as part of an unhealthy trend in which mainland Chinese interests seek to rein in Hong Kong's vibrant and still free press. Thousands of people, led by leading journalists, attended a rally to denounce violence and intimidation of the media.Ming Pao put up a reward of HK$3 million for information leading to the bringing to justice of the perpetrators.

Eleven people, some of them with connections to triads in Hong Kong, were arrested in connection with the attack. The two main suspects had fled to Guangdong, China. On 21 August 2015, two men were sentenced in Hong Kong to 19 years imprisonment for the attack.

Ming Pao is one of the most credible news outlets in Hong Kong, with a tradition of liberalism and strong record on investigative reporting. Kevin Lau Chun-to (劉進圖) is a journalist with a law degree who was editor-in-chief of Ming Pao in Hong Kong since the retirement of his predecessor, Cheung Kin-bor, in 2012. A colleague at the Chinese University, where he lectured part-time, describes Lau as a "mild-mannered guy, an intellectual, a lawyer, a journalist, not in any way a firebrand radical or a controversial character". Under Lau's leadership, Ming Pao has continued in its liberal stance, investigated the suspicious death of Li Wangyang, spoken out against government policies such as Moral and National Education (MNE), and in favour of greater democratic reforms in Hong Kong – a stance seen as being unsympathetic to the Chinese central government. The journal scooped several political scandals, including the 2012 Henry Tang illegal basement controversy and a similar scandal involving CY Leung, Tang's erstwhile opponent for election as chief executive of Hong Kong. The paper also contributed to investigative work with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ); this work looked into the offshore assets of China's leaders, including relatives of Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, former Premier Wen Jiabao, and several members of the National People's Congress, and led to published stories.