University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of English

Founded in 1991, HK Magazine was one of the major English-language publications on local affairs, social issues and entertainment listings published weekly in Hong Kong for a quarter of a century. Apart from providing local entertainment information, it also witnessed the rapid social and political changes of Hong Kong when Britain handed over sovereignty of Hong Kong to China in 1997. In July 2013, HK Magazine was sold to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) Group which was subsequently purchased by Alibaba Group in December 2015. However, the SCMP Group announced on 28 September 2016 that the magazine's final issue would be released on 7 October 2016. The closure of the magazine was viewed by many as the loss of a “fun, independent and free-thinking' publication. In response to the huge reaction from the community, the SCMP Group agreed that the content of HK Magazine would be migrated to the SCMP website before the HK Magazine website was removed. It was however revealed that the SCMP website did not preserve the full archive of HK Magazine as promised. A public appeal was launched to help preserve the collective memory of Hong Kong by archiving the back issues of the magazine. Apart from reviewing the discussion arising from the close down of HK Magazine, this paper also addresses the critical role of the library in long term preserving HK Magazine on one hand and providing access to its digital content on the other.