The 36th Hong Kong Book Fair kicked off in the spe­cial admin­is­trat­ive region on 15th July, with the pres­ence of pub­lish­ing and cul­tural lead­ers from the Chinese main­land, who wished that the book fair would serve as a bridge for the promotion of inter­na­tional cul­tural ties.

Some 55 main­land pub­lish­ing units will be part of the weeklong event at the Hong Kong Con­ven­tion and Exhib­i­tion Centre in Wan Chai, which will showcase 16,000 selected copies.

Yunnan is this year’s fea­tured province. At a cere­mony launch­ing Yun­nan’s pro­mo­tional activ­it­ies, Li Chun­sheng, editor-in-chief of People’s Pub­lish­ing House and head of the main­land del­eg­a­tion, said the fair is an import­ant plat­form con­nect­ing the main­land with both the spe­cial admin­is­trat­ive region and the inter­na­tional pub­lish­ing mar­ket.

The event, which is carefully planned and well-organised, will contribute to deepening cultural exchanges and business cooperation in the publishing sector, he added.

The fair is a big event for pub­lishing exchanges and read­ing pro­mo­tion, and Hong Kong is an “inter­na­tional cul­tural win­dow” and a “key stage” for main­land books, copy­rights, and cre­at­ive products to go global, said Peng Bin, deputy head of the Com­mun­ist Party of China Yun­nan Pro­vin­cial Com­mit­tee’s Pub­li­city Depart­ment.

Peng, quoting the pro­mo­tional theme “drink­ing from the same river, read­ing thou­sands of books together” (ref­er­ring to the Pearl River which ori­gin­ates in Yun­nan), said that he was deeply moved by the movie of the same name. Peng quoted the pro­mo­tional theme “drink­ing from the same river, read­ing thou­sands of books together” (ref­er­ring to the Pearl River which ori­gin­ates in Yun­nan), and said that he was moved by the movie of the same name. Peng was hoping that “books would be a bond and culture a bridge” to share Yun­nan’s stories with read­ers in Hong Kong, Macao, and the world.

In the Yun­nan exhib­i­tion booth, the Hong Kong read­ers can enjoy pub­lic­a­tions about the province’s his­tory, eth­nic cul­tures, eco­logy, and original lit­er­at­ure, as well as intan­gible cul­tural her­it­age crafts such as purple pot­tery and Yi embroid­ery.

The primary exhib­it­ors are from the main­land, such as the Yangzhou-based Jiangsu Guangling Book Co Ltd, which is a pub­lisher of clas­sical Chinese books printed on wood­b­locks and bound in thread. Over the last 20 years, the com­pany has been in attendance at the fair almost annually, and its edit­ors have often been travelling to Hong Kong to meet read­ers.

Com­pany head Liu Dong showed a wood­b­lock-printing of Three Hun­dred Tang Poems, a reprint of an edi­tion that was pub­lished during the Qing Dyn­asty (1644 – 1911), in which the char­ac­ters were engraved onto wooden blocks prior to the print­ing.

However, Hong Kong has long been an impor­tant mar­ket for the pub­lisher, said Liu, because classic Chinese titles published in traditional characters with a ver­tical lay­out are more appropriate for the read­ing habits of the city. Besides, he thinks that the book fair serves to ex­pose China’s cul­ture to the inter­na­tional readership, which also includes Sino­lo­gists, and it is a chance for his com­pany to know the readership in other coun­tries and mar­kets better so as to make the pub­lic­a­tion better, he says.

“This is not an easy type of information gathering,” Liu said.

“The Hong Kong Book Fair has been very rewarding to us.”

The fair, which is organised by the Hong Kong Trade Devel­op­ment Coun­cil, continues until Tuesday. Visitors had to create long queues out of doorsteps around 9 am on the opening day, some even with carts for ease of shopping.

The new releases, the heavy discounts and author signing ses­sions have drawn Chris Cheung to the fair almost every year, he said to China Daily, which is based in Hong Kong. He enjoys reading books of lit­er­at­ure, books of his­tory and com­ics.

Ella Bao, who came from Sichuan province to attend the event, was encouraged to come by a friend, and researched more about the fair from social media.

The fair is well organised, Bao said, and many of the big pub­lishers, such as the Com­mer­cial Press and Joint Pub­lish­ing, can be seen at the entrance to the fair, and the book dis­plays are also easy to read. She said she had seen a lot of newly pub­lished titles, with many cov­er­ing cut­tingedge top­ics.

Visitors with the fair’s admission ticket (HK$30 ($3.83) for adults and HK$10 for chil­dren) can take a tour of two con­cur­rent expos at the exhib­i­tion cen­ter: the Hong Kong Sports and Leis­ure Expo and World of Snacks. This year, over 770 exhibits from almost 30 coun­tries and regions have converged.