The popularity of the city's annual book fair is usually taken as evidence that a culture of reading flourishes among Hong Kong people. Since some of the most enthusiastic visitors are young people, this is often seen as a sign that many are interested in books after all. If this is true, it would confound the popular image of youngsters being hopeless addicts of games and electronic gadgets.
In reality, the most devoted fair fans - those who queue for hours to be the first to be admitted - are inevitably there for the special mementos, souvenirs or editions put out by their pop idols. This year is no different. About a dozen teenagers camped overnight for the week-long fair to open yesterday because rising Canto-pop singer Theresa Foo Wing-shan was releasing her new album there. Many left as soon as they bought what they came for.
To say all this is not to deny that the city has many book lovers and the annual fair is helping to feed their growing literary hunger. It is also an excellent public service that sees 700 primary school pupils from underprivileged families being given a HK$200 subsidy this year to visit the fair and buy books there. Each year, the fair enjoys record-breaking attendances, and this year will likely be no exception. But this is mostly because there are so few popular events throughout the year catering to the needs of book lovers.
Hong Kong is not a place that encourages quiet reading in public places such as coffee shops and public transport. The discouragement of reading begins in early primary education. In 2004, a survey found more than one in two primary school pupils spent less than five minutes a day reading materials not related to schoolwork. And who can blame them? By the time they finish schoolwork and prepare for exams and tests each night, they are exhausted and need to go to bed. A few schools may have run successful reading programmes, but they remain a tiny minority. Schools largely remain focused on teaching from textbooks, not reading for pleasure. The fair's success points to this defect in our education system. We need teaching that encourages children to read, not one that stifles curiosity before it develops.
