Hong Kong independent bookstore Book Punch and its owner have been fined HK$6,000 after holding a stand-up comedy show without an entertainment license – the second time they have been penalized in 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 being 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, according to local media. reported.
According to a Facebook POST that month, the event was a stand-up comedy show featuring people who had completed a comedy course run by the bookstore.
On that day, two undercover officers of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) attended the pay-as-you-go event, where each gave HK$100.
‘Performance on stage’
During the judicial process, one of the FEHD officers who appeared as a participant testified at the prosecution.
The officer, nicknamed Hui, described about 40 chairs headed in the same direction, towards the event organizer and the performers.
Representing Pong and his firm, lawyer Lawrence Lau questioned whether the performance space was on the same level as the audience.
Hui confirmed that there was no stage, so the performers did not get up.
Lau said he agreed the event was a “performance” but since there was no stage – he doubted whether it was a “stage performance”, citing wording used in the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance.
The ordinance says 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 dance exhibitions, stand-up comedy should not be considered comedy.
Pong did not testify at 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 didn’t think “stage performance,” as the ordinance says, applied only to staged performances.
Mok said Pong showed no remorse during the trial, and therefore, there was no reason to give a lighter sentence. But he noted that Pong’s stance during the trial was “pragmatic” and that his past convictions were all about promoting culture.
On April 10, Pong and his firm was fined HK$32,000 after being found guilty of running an unregistered school. The case involved an interest Spanish class held at the bookstore.
In 2022, Pong was convicted of serving alcohol without a license after serving attendees at a book sharing event. The judge gave one good of HK$12,000.
