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Beijing int'l book fair attracts enthusiasts, publishers

Xinhua, August 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

The 2015 Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) has attracted plenty of enthusiasts from home and abroad.

The new international education and children's book publications hall is just one of five exhibition halls at this year's fair. About 200 domestic and foreign children's book and education publishers are presenting books in 13 languages.

Beijing parents are taking their children in a bid to broaden their horizons. Lei Tong, a mother, told Xinhua she hoped the fair would help her 10-year-old daughter to improve her aesthetic sensibilities.

Tan Xiaodan, a picture book exhibitor at the fair, said she believed that children could learn more about the world via graphic books.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the fair's guest of honor. Publishers from UAE exhibit more than 600 of the country's books in its 1000-sq-meter exhibition zone.

To spread Arabic culture, UAE invited a group of artists and illustrators from home to meet readers, and paint pictures for them as gifts.

The book fair is not only a chance for readers to learn about different cultures, helps publishers' cooperation and exchanges.

Penguin Random House has won many Chinese readers in the past decade as has worked well with Chinese publishers, said Wang Zhen, general manager of Penguin Random House, China.

Mireille Berman with the Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature, said Dutch books have become more and more popular in China since Netherlands started to attend the book fair ten years ago.

China also exhibited over 800 books about World War II, including documentary literature, historical material and theoretical research to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

The BIBF began in 1986, and along with the London Book Fair, Frankfurt Book Fair, and BookExpo America, is one of the four major international book fairs.

This year's BIBF ends on Aug. 30 and has brought about 270,000 publications to the 66,000 square meter venue at the China International Exhibition Center in Shunyi District.

A total of 2,302 publishers from 82 countries and regions are participating in the fair. Among the participants, 1,305 will be from overseas, a year-on-year increase of 6.3 percent. Serbia, Romania, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan will be first timers at the event. Endi