Hong Kong independent bookshop Book Punch and its owner have been fined HK$6,000 after holding a stand-up comedy show without an entertainment licence – the second time they have been penalised within a month.
Pong Yat-ming and his firm, Active Experiential Learning Company, which owns Book Punch, were fined HK$3,000 each on Monday afternoon after they were found guilty of breaching the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance following a trial that morning.
The two defendants were accused of holding a stand-up comedy event at the Sham Shui Po bookstore on June 29 last year, local media reported.
According to a Facebook post that month, the event was a stand-up comedy performance featuring people who had completed a comedy course hosted by the bookstore.
That day, two undercover Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) officers attended the pay-as-you-wish event, each giving HK$100.
‘Stage performance’
During the trial, one of the FEHD officers who posed as a participant testified for the prosecution.
The officer, surnamed Hui, described around 40 chairs facing the same direction, towards the event host and performers.
Representing Pong and his firm, barrister Lawrence Lau asked whether the performance space was on the same level as the audience.
Hui confirmed that there was no stage, so the performers were not elevated.
Lau said he agreed that the event was a “performance,” but since there was no stage – doubted whether it was a “stage performance,” citing the wording used in the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance.
The ordinance states that the laws apply to “a concert, opera, ballet, stage performance or other musical, dramatic or theatrical entertainment.”
Lau added that while the ordinance lists “comedy” as an example of a “stage performance,” along with other types of entertainment such as melodrama and dancing exhibitions, stand-up comedy should not be considered comedy.
Pong did not testify in the trial.
Past convictions
Delivering the verdict on Monday afternoon, Magistrate Andrew Mok said he disagreed with Lau’s narrow reading of the ordinance.
He said he did not think “stage performance,” as stated in the ordinance, applied only to performances with a stage.
Mok said that Pong showed no remorse during the trial, and therefore, there was no reason to give a lighter penalty. But he noted that Pong’s attitude during the trial was “pragmatic,” and that his past convictions all had to do with promoting culture.
On April 10, Pong and his firm were fined HK$32,000 after being found guilty of running an unregistered school. The case related to a Spanish interest class that was held at the bookstore.
In 2022, Pong was convicted of serving alcohol without a licence after he served sake to attendees at a sake-book-sharing event. The judge handed down a fine of HK$12,000.
