Guangzhou showcases HK book fair
A promotion for the 20th Hong Kong Book Fair is being held at the Guangzhou Book Centre to attract mainland visitors to the fair, which will run between July 22 and 28 at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
'This year is the 20th anniversary of the book fair,' Hong Kong Trade Development Council assistant executive director Raymond Yip said.
'Last year, the book fair attracted more than 800,000 customers in Hong Kong, including almost 7,000 from the Pearl River Delta area. Compared with 2007, the [2008] number increased by 2,000,' the assistant executive director said.
The council is organising the book fair. Special entry arrangements would be made for visitors from outside Hong Kong, so they could avoid the long queues of locals, he said. And once exhibition centre expansions were completed there would be an extra 100 exhibitors at the fair.
The council said that this year a new exhibition hall would be allocated to Taiwanese exhibitors, allowing visitors easy access to their books.
The Hong Kong Book Fair is regarded as one of the important annual exhibitions in Hong Kong and has consistently attracted thousands.
'Hong Kong is such a small place but it has so many publishers and book stores,' said writer and cultural and political critic Leung Man Tao, who is an ambassador for the fair. 'Even more, Hong Kong has freedom of expression. That is why the book fair is popular.'
One mainland university student, Wen Xin, said Hong Kong was 'a heaven' for things cultural. 'I can buy my favourite books which I cannot find on the mainland. That's why the fair attracts me.'
