Publishers see great opportunities at the book fair

The 30th edition of the Beijing International Book Fair, one of the world’s most influential book fairs, opened on Wednesday at the China National Convention Center.

Under the motto “Deepening mutual learning between civilizations and cooperation for a win-win future,” the five-day book fair presents more than 220,000 publications and 1,600 exhibitors from 71 countries and regions. This year’s guest of honor is Saudi Arabia.

This year’s event will see 15 new countries participating, including Bangladesh, the Philippines, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, New Zealand and Nigeria.

At the Nigerian booth, Michael Dare Oluwatuyi, Chairman of the Nigerian Book Fair Trust, and Uchenna Cyril Anioke, President of the Nigerian Publishers Association, recommended Nigerian books that they expect Chinese publishers to publish so that Chinese readers can better understand the African country from different perspectives.

Her recommendations included “The Fine Art of Bookselling” by Oluwatuyi, “Moonlight Story of Nigeria” by Anioke, “Women, Law and Human Rights: National and Global Perspectives” by Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, and “The History of Yorubas” by Samuel Johnson.

A fan of The Art of War, Anioke said he wants to translate the Chinese classic written by Sun Tzu over 2,000 years ago into Nigerian languages, including Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo.

In the German pavilion, Alexander Wilhelm, vice president of the publishing house Müller & Schindler, sat in front of a glass case displaying beautiful replicas of ancient books. In the center was the book “Plants and Animals,” a replica of an original made in northern France or England about 800 years ago, which tells of how ancient people used plants to cure diseases, said Wilhelm. The original is now kept in the British Library.

The German publisher presents these excellent books and at the same time looks for business opportunities in China.

“We are looking for a business partnership to sell these books here in China and of course we are also looking at institutions such as the National Library of China and the Ministry of Culture. We may be interested in the contract work of reproducing Chinese manuscripts as replicas, the main purpose of which is to protect the original,” he said.

“We know that China has a very long history. Many books and manuscripts are created here. It might be interesting for us to make such replicas,” he added.

Directly opposite the German Pavilion, three speakers shared their knowledge and experiences at an event titled “Artisan Spirit” in the Hong Kong Pavilion. An exquisite replica of “Forty Scenes from Yuanmingyuan” (the Old Summer Palace) was on display and attracted great attention. The original work, created during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) by Shen Yuan and Tang Dai, is now kept in the French National Library. The event was the first of twelve events held by Hong Kong exhibitors at the book fair.

In another event on the first day of the book fair, the China International Communications Group held a ceremony for Saudi Arabian publishers to join the China-Arab Cultural and Publishing Center (CICG).

Speaking at the ceremony, Ashwaq Rasheed, Chairman of the Board of the Saudi Publishing Association, said: “Through this collaboration, we have the opportunity to introduce the public to the latest publications and literary works from both countries, thereby enriching the cultural and intellectual landscape of both nations.”

In addition, a membership signing ceremony for the CICG Center for Culture and Publishing for China-Latin America and the Caribbean Cooperation Mechanism was held to expand the publishing partnership worldwide.

Other events for publishing professionals will take place in the following days, including the Beijing International Publishing Forum, a conference on publishing and technology innovations, and the World Children’s Book Forum 2024.

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