Reading the future

Expo turns a page on China's continuing enthusiasm for books

Visitors enjoyed interacting with two blue-and-white robots recently at the 27th National Book Expo in Langfang, Hebei province. One responded to constant greetings from visitors by saying: "I've talked all morning. I'm tired."

Hebei Publishing Group's robots educate children and tell stories uploaded by the publisher. About 960 publishers offered 240 reading and writing events at the four-day expo, which ended on June 3. They showed 250,000 books, including 150,000 new titles at the main site in Langfang and a smaller venue in Tangshan.

About 810,000 people visited the Langfang site and bought 41 million yuan ($6 million; 5.4 million euros; ￡4.7 million) worth of books.

"The expo has shown the achievements of the country's publishing industry and promoted reading since its launch in 1980," notes Nie Chenxi, director of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. Nie says the country's publishing sector generated 2.3 trillion yuan last year.

"It has gradually developed so that it's not only bigger but also stronger," he says.

China is currently the world leader in number of titles and copies, he added.

The 2022 Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, as well as plans to develop Xiong'an New Area in Baoding to advance regional integration, have given significance to hosting the expo in Hebei, Nie says.

Special "reading trucks" drove 16,000 kilometers to visit 117 villages in the province since March to promote reading and gear up for the event.

Highlights included books about the upcoming 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Jing-Jin-Ji) integration, children's stories and events featuring writers.

About 10,000 new titles at the expo deal with achievements since the 18th Party Congress or look ahead to the 19th.

People's Publishing House released a series on 80 years of Xinhua Bookstore's development, comprising 33 volumes and 20 million words.

The publisher's head, Huang Shuyuan, says the company is preparing 17 titles. It will later publish a 60-volume series on Vladimir Lenin and a book called Xi Jinping Telling the Stories.

Huangshan Press, Hebei Publishing Group and Anhui Publishing Group released a biography of artist Yan Su, an exemplary member of the Communist Party of China and a composer and playwright. Yan was born in Hebei.

The expo featured a special zone dedicated to the Jing-Jin-Ji integration. The state administration had previously created special publishing zones and environmentally friendly printing bases in Hebei, such as Wuyi county's Belt and Road Creative Cultural Industrial Park.

Li Xiaoming of the Hebei Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, says the province views the integration as a great opportunity to promote its publishing, printing and filmmaking, while making them greener.

Zhu Weifeng of the state administration's policy planning department, says the government will improve the industry's structure to advance creativity-driven development.

The Xiong'an New Area concept was announced in April and is detailed by three titles the Hebei Publishing Group unveiled at the expo.

The Xiong'an Strategy offers analyses to examine the choice of location, types of businesses and institutions that will move in and how to seize the opportunities the strategy offers, says Du Jinqing, the group's president.

Hebei Publishing's other two books on Xiong'an focus on history, geography and culture.

The expo also hosted the 10th China National Readers Festival.

More than 210,000 readers have attended the festival since its 2008 launch, China Publishing Group president Tan Yue noted.

Writer Zhang Yueran recommended The Great Gatsby and The Old Man and the Sea to young readers at this year's event. The writer, who was born in the 1980s, says a certain rebellious spirit is a hallmark of youth.

Hong Kong-based writer Ge Liang says: "The festival's value is connecting with readers. I engage their expectations and find new motivations."

Such celebrated writers as Feng Jicai and Yu Qiuyu released books at the festival. Yu's new work is a collection of essays on self-cultivation.

Children's literature occupied a prominent place at the expo. The state administration partnered with hundreds of publishers to create two lists of recommended books and journals for kids.

Tomorrow Publishing House released a new novel by Qin Wenjun Bao Ta about a 13-year-old boy's adventures.

"It's a story about reality that has great depth that is lacking in some stories for schoolchildren," says Chen Xiang with China Reading Weekly.

China South Publishing & Media Group President Gong Shuguang told a news conference at the expo that original picture books for children and Chinese novels are gaining traction overseas. "Books with strong traditional Chinese features used to lead our sales abroad," Gong says.

meijia@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 06/16/2017 page21)