Lam Wing-kee, the Hong Kong bookseller who made a career out of selling material critical of China's political elite and then fled to Taiwan when things got too hot, has died at 70. He passed away late Thursday at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei after a battle with lung cancer, according to regional media.

Lam was one of several booksellers detained in 2015 for selling publications that were less than flattering about mainland China's leaders. He skipped town to Taiwan in 2019, fearing he'd be shipped back to China under Hong Kong's proposed extradition bill. Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province, welcomed him with open arms - Taiwan's authorities even called the reopening of his Causeway Bay Books a symbol of democracy and freedom.

His final days were dramatic: admitted to the hospital on Tuesday, he slipped into a coma and died two days later. Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te took to Facebook to express his deep sadness, noting Lam's life "bore witness to the value of freedom of expression, and to the fear and suffering inflicted by authoritarian repression." Lai added that Lam "chose not to remain silent" and turned his bookshop into a gathering place for Hong Kong exiles.

In his last BBC interview last year, Lam said: "Everyone has their own values. You can't go against your values, nor can you betray others. If you believe something is right, you should continue to stick to it." He would know - after his 2015 arrest during a visit to mainland China, he was held for over 400 days. A confession broadcast on Chinese TV? He said it was staged, read from a script. His case fueled the 2019 Hong Kong protests, which were all about fears of China encroaching on freedoms. Lam's bookshop was a tiny rebellion, and he ran it until the end.