When Taiwanese electronics salesman Lee Meng-chu made his regular journey from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen across to Hong Kong almost four years ago, he found himself selected for a random luggage search - and transformed into an enemy of the Chinese state.
At the bottom of his backpack, the Chinese border officers discovered five small fliers with maps that highlighted Taiwan - the self-governed democracy Beijing claims as its territory - and Hong Kong with the words "Hong Kong and Taiwan stand hand-in-hand together!"