Gui Minhai in Gothenburg.

Gui Minhai 桂民海 was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, on the 5th of May 1964. At the age of 17, he moved to Beijing to pursue a degree in history. As a student, he developed a passion for poetry, which he has continued to use as an avenue of creative expression throughout his life and career. After graduating from Peking University, he began working as an editor with the aim of contributing to a freer press.

In 1988, Minhai moved to Sweden for postgraduate studies at Gothenburg University. Shaken by witnessing the Tiananmen massacre via Swedish media just a year later, he applied for and was granted permanent residency in Sweden. He became a Swedish citizen in 1993, and renounced his Chinese citizenship.

Minhai returned to China for work in 1999. In 2004, he moved to Germany, where he began authoring books on Chinese politics. In Germany, he also began his advocacy for press freedom in China, joining the Independent Chinese PEN centre – the Chinese exile chapter of PEN International – and later serving on its board. When Minhai subsequently travelled to China in 2008 to visit family, he was denied entry and deported.

Four years later, he co-founded Mighty Current in Hong Kong, a publishing and distribution company specialising in literature on Chinese politics that could not be published on the mainland. In 2014, Mighty Current acquired the independent bookstore Causeway Bay Books, which was popular among mainland tourists wanting to purchase banned books.

Between October and December 2015, Minhai and four of his colleagues at Causeway Bay Books were abducted and detained on the Chinese mainland. Since then, Minhai has been denied regular contact with Swedish consular officials and with his family. In 2020, he was sentenced to ten years in prison in a secret trial.

Today, it is unclear where he is, how he is, or if he’s even still alive.