The Journey of Jimmy Lai

Mr. Lai was born on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1947, in Canton, Republic of China.  His father was forced to flee China after the civil war when the Communists came to power, and his mother was sent to a labor camp, leaving Mr. Lai and his siblings to support themselves.

As a young boy, he worked as a street vendor and carrying bags for passengers at a railway station.  He received a gift of a chocolate bar, something he had never tasted, from a traveler from Hong Kong.  He would recall later in his autobiography: “I thought to myself, he is a Hong Kong man, and the chocolate must come from Hong Kong.  Then Hong Kong must be heaven on earth, and I should go there.”

At the age of 12, with one Hong Kong dollar in his pocket, he smuggled himself into Macau, before stowing away on a fishing boat bound for Hong Kong.  For years he was a child laborer, sweeping the floors of a glove factory making $8US per month.  He discovered poor workers eating “big bowls of noodles and rice porridge.” He discovered food was everywhere.  “It was a new phenomenon for me.  I knew at that moment, I’m in a different world.”

Mr. Lai rose to the position of factory manager.  In 1975, using his year-end bonus to purchase Hong Kong stocks, he raised enough funding to purchase Comitex, a bankrupt garment factory and began producing sweaters for customers around the world, including J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward.

He built a chain of clothing stores across Asia under the brand Giordano, and at its peak, had over 8,000 employees and 2,400 stores in 30 countries. 

Following the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, Mr. Lai became an advocate of democracy, humanitarian causes and a critic of the People’s Republic of China government and built a media company establishing Next Magazine and then Apple Daily in 1995.  Apple Daily became the No. 2 newspaper in Hong Kong.  His publications were banned in mainland China since their inception.

Mr. Lai’s human rights activism led him to realize the importance of serving others, transcending self-interest, leading to his conversion to Catholicism in 1997.

Mt. Lai has attracted the ire of the Chinese and Hong Kong governments for his political activism and his outspoken criticism of the Chinese government’s human rights abuses, including religious persecution.  He was one of the few publishers who remained dedicated to the pro-democracy cause, distributing Giordano t-shirts with the portraits of student leaders on them.  In retaliation, the People’s Republic of China government began shutting-down Giordano shops, leading Mr. Lai to sell his shares to save it.

In December of 2014, Mr. Lai was arrested with several other pro-democracy leaders at a protest site of the Umbrella Movement.  Because of his outspokenness and activism, Mr. Lai faced hostile attacks and vandalism on his home and business, including two fire bombings, and threats on his life.

In February of 2020, Mr. Lai was arrested on a charge of “illegal assembly” and for alleged “intimidation” of a photographer during his attendance in the 2019-2020 protests in Hong Kong.  He was released and then arrested with 15 other pro-democracy leaders on a charge of participating in “illegal assemblies”.  

In August of 2020, Mr. Lai was arrested again at his home for alleged “collusion with foreign forces” and was released on bail.  He was arrested and released on bail again in December of 2020 and has remained in jail since following various convictions, with subsequent charges of “unlawful assembly” leveled against him.  His assets were frozen, and he has been imprisoned for 2 years and 9 months.  He is awaiting September 2023 trial, which, if convicted, will send Mr. Lai to prison for life.

In June of 2021, Mr. Lai received the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists.  In September of 2021, Mr. Lai received the Christifideles Laici Award from the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.  In April of 2022, Mr. Lai was among five Hong Kong citizens nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for “putting his freedom on the line”.  In May of 2022, Mr. Lai was awarded an honorary degree from The Catholic University of America for his faith and decision to remain in Hong Kong to fight for human rights.  

In a recent interview speaking of his Catholic faith and its integral role in his life, Mr. Lai stated: “the Lord’s teaching that your life is not about yourself.” 

“When you lift yourself above your own self-interest, you find the meaning of life. You find you’re doing the right thing, which is so wonderful. It changed my life into a different thing,” Mr. Lai stated as he reflected on his conversion to Catholicism in 1997.

Mr. Lai concluded by saying: “The way I look at it, if I suffer for the right cause, it only defines the person I am becoming. It can only be good for me to become a better person. If you believe in the Lord, if you believe that all suffering has a reason, and the Lord is suffering with me…I’m at peace with it.”

In February of 2023, Mr. Lai was re-nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Cardinal Joseph Zen and several others for being “ardent champions of Hong Kong’s autonomy, human rights, and the rule of law as designated under the Sino-British Declaration and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”