<i>The Architects of Sheep Village</i> is a children’s book in the <i>Sheep Village</i> series. This book describes the building of civil society in Hong Kong and the authorities’ crackdown on Hong Kong’s civil society after the 2019 social movement.
The <i>Sheep Village</i> Series Children’s Picture Books
The <i>Sheep Village</i> series is a group of six children's books published by the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists. The six books are titled <i>The Guardians of Sheep Village</i>, <i>The Twelve Warriors of Sheep Village</i>, <i>The Street Cleaners of Sheep Village</i>, <i>Voting Day in Sheep Village</i>, <i>Sheep Village Daily</i>, and <i>The Architects of Sheep Village</i>.
<i/>The Guardians of Sheep Village</i>, <i>The Twelve Warriors of Sheep Village</i>, and <i>The Street Cleaners of Sheep Village</i> were published in Hong Kong between 2020 and 2021, while the other three were not formally published and were mainly distributed on the Internet.
On July 22, 2021, the national security unit of the Hong Kong Police arrested five board members of the Hong Kong General Union of Speech Therapists, including its president Lai Man Ling and its external vice president Yeung Yat Yee Melody, as well as the union's three other board members, Ng Hau Yi Sydney, Chan Yuen Sum Samuel, and Fong Tsz Ho, on the charge of conspiracy to print, publish, distribute, display and/or reproduce seditious publications. The five defendants were denied bail and remanded in custody for nearly a year before trial. On September 10, 2022, Judge Kwok Wai-kin sentenced the five defendants to 19 months in prison.
The <i>Sheep Village</i> case was the first case involving the charge of conspiracy to print, publish, distribute, display and/or reproduce seditious publications since Hong Kong’s handover in 1997.