Last year, Gao Linze, a 16-year-old high school student, was the final visitor at the Shanghai Book Fair (SBF). This year, when the fair held its 17th edition at the Shanghai Exhibition Center from August 12 to 18, he was invited to be the first visitor and his arrival at 9 a.m. kicked off the event.

Like last year, Gao headed for the international publishers and bought three English novels at the China International Publishing Group (CIPG) stall. He told Huang Wei, Director General of CIPG's general editorial office, it was his sixth consecutive year at the fair, which he has been attending since he was a primary school student.

From its inception in 2004, the SBF has developed from a regional event into a national cultural activity. Shanghai has a rich reading culture, where reading is regarded as a part of quality life, Huang said. Though the SBF is held in August, when the temperature shoots up and typhoons disrupt life, people have never stopped flocking to the fair, Huang said. "As a publisher, I am inspired."

A test for publishers

Many major international book fairs were either canceled or postponed this year because of COVID-19. But due to the successful epidemic prevention and control in China, the Shanghai Books and Periodicals Distribution Association, the organizer of the fair, went ahead with their schedule. The 17th edition saw over 1,000 events and 100,000 titles on display, including 700 new ones.

Xu Jiong, head of the Shanghai Press and Publication Administration, told People's Daily the fair was "a test for us to recover social and economic development amid the epidemic." It is also the responsibility of publishers to contribute to recovery.

The exhibition area was expanded to 26,000 square meters, nearly 11 percent larger than the previous editions, to ensure there was no crowding. The registration system limited the number of daily visitors to 18,000 and they had to book tickets online as ticket sale at the venue was canceled. Though the number of visitors was one third of that last year, sales data showed their average buys increased by about 23 percent, Xu said.

"I was not worried about COVID-19 because the book fair had taken extensive precautions," Lu Wenqi, a 19-year-old, said. Lu said the restricted number of people made the experience of visiting the fair and browsing in the stalls better than before.

In addition to the regular procedures such as checking the temperature of visitors and their health code and ensuring masks were worn inside, between daytime and nighttime operation, the venue was disinfected thoroughly.

Anti-epidemic stories

It was CIPG's third year at the fair with its seven affiliated publishing houses attending. "CIPG is an institution targeting foreign markets, but we thought domestic buyers would also like some of our books targeting foreign markets," Huang said.

The 300-square-meter CIPG stall exhibited over 5,800 titles in 30 languages covering traditional Chinese culture, historical photo collections, foreign language learning and original imported books.

In its children's section, there were many children reading the books on display. People's enthusiasm has not been affected by the epidemic, Huang said, calling the fair attendance a meaningful family activity during the school holiday in summer.

The newly launched third volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China was on display in the stall. Published in June by Foreign Languages Press under CIPG, it is a collection of speeches, conversations, instructions and letters by President Xi Jinping between October 18, 2017 and January 13, 2020. The book provides Xi's recent thoughts on national governance and is regarded as a window to learn about the governance of China in the new era. Both the Chinese and English editions were on display.

The CIPG titles were chosen also with an eye to highlighting the all-out efforts people in China made to fight COVID-19. The publishing group brought out more than 20 titles to demonstrate the public resilience and undaunted spirit, such as Stories of Courage and Determination: Wuhan Coronavirus Lockdown. They also included five cartoon series, titled The Pathogen Beside Us, for children to learn about disease prevention.

One book, China, We Got Your Back, published by New Star Press, is a narrative of an Israeli with deep ties with China who collected medical supplies in Israel to support Hubei Province in central China, which was the hardest hit by the virus.

Xu said the books on foreign assistance for China reflected mutual trust between foreigners and the Chinese and their working together with other countries to combat the virus.

Rethinking book fairs

"We are thinking about improving the book fair along with changes in people's reading habits," Xu said. "If people prefer e-books, why do they still need book fairs? How can we cope with the difficulties caused by changes in the reading media and sales and consumption patterns?"

Therefore, this year's the SBF underwent transformation, transcending the traditional book fair framework. For instance, it had an online platform that was a guide to its events, with live streaming. People could virtually watch book launches, writers' and scholars' forums and other activities without visiting the pavilions in person.

In addition, the fair built a "friends' circle" by involving new media and Internet culture platforms to conduct reading projects through offline and online channels.

One novel instance was the Writers' Gourmet Menu. Combining reading with Chinese cuisine, it invited writers to talk about various topics such as gourmet food and lifestyle, culture, science fiction, detective stories and fashion with guests at seven local restaurants. Organized by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House and local tourism marketing service provider Destination Partner, the project is a collaboration with the city's culture and tourism authority to design author-themed menus and a list of select food-related books.

Xu said reading, a part of daily life, can be integrated with other contents of life, becoming an innovative activity that can promote reading to a larger group and benefit more people.

"Despite the pandemic, the Internet played a significant role in uniting bookworms across the world to heed the cultural carnival in Shanghai," Sun Ganlu, Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Writers' Association and also the initiator of the event, told China.org.cn.

The SBF also included 100 sub-venues in 16 districts of the city, such as renowned bookstores, district libraries and book clubs. It collaborated with shopping centers for the first time to promote a business circle with an "entering the community" campaign to help the book industry and affiliated businesses get back on their feet. CA

(Print Edition Title: Opening a New Chapter)

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