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Podcast: Commonwealth Club of California Podcast
Episode: Mark Clifford: How Jimmy Lai Became Hong Kong's Greatest Dissident and China's Most Feared Critic
Description: How did the billionaire businessman Jimmy Lai become one of Hong Kong’s leading activists for democracy—and China’s most famous political prisoner today?Jimmy Lai escaped mainland China when he was 12 years old, at the height of a famine that killed tens of millions. In Hong Kong, he hustled; no work was beneath him, and he often slept on a table in a clothing factory where he did odd jobs. At 21, he was running a factory. By his mid-twenties, he owned one and was supplying sweaters and shirts to some of the bigges...