The South African Book Fair 2017 (SABF) opened on September 8 in Johannesburg, South Africa. A surprise guest at the fair was South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa who took time out to visit the China International Publishing Group's (CIPG) stand on the first day of the three-day event.

Ramaphosa browsed through a copy of Chinese President Xi Jinping's book of Up and Out of Poverty, saying he was keen to buy a copy.

The deputy president also expressed an interest in Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, Dreams in Rural China and other books on Chinese governance.

Before leaving the stand he wrote "Best wishes for Chinese people in South Africa and China. Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President of South Africa," in an inscription for the CIPG stand.

As the only Chinese exhibitor at the book fair, CIPG exhibited more than 200 titles of books and postcards from seven of its publishing houses, covering a wide range of topics of politics, economy, culture, art, history, travel, Chinese teaching and children's books.

Books on governance, poverty reduction and society building were the most popular, according to the CIPG staff at the stand.

Up and Out of Poverty contains 29 of Xi's speeches and articles, as well as photos, from 1988 to 1990 when he was the Party chief of Ningde City in east China's Fujian Province.

The Chinese edition of the book was first published in July 1992 and reprinted in August 2014. The English and French editions of the book were launched in August 2017.

Xi Jinping: The Governance of China is a book on governance, which has since its first printing in September 2014 sold more than 6.25 million copies in 22 languages worldwide.

Founded in 1949, CIPG is a conglomerate with diversified business ranging from book and periodical publishing (including ChinAfrica magazine), online media, book distribution and printing. Every year the group publishes more than 3,000 book titles and 20 magazines in print and online versions in over 20 languages.

CIPG first took part in the SABF in 2015. It is the second time the group participated in the event.

SABF is an international book fair for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Established in 2006, it is now a biennial event held in Johannesburg, South Africa.