One of the biggest controversies of this year's book fair is the ban on letting pseudo-models sign their photo books. The decision was made by the fair's organising and advisory board which is made up of authors, academics, and editors and producers from the media.
The board says the book fair's aim is to encourage healthy reading habits among people of all ages and that the models' autograph sessions do not fit this theme.
Although the models' photo books will be on sale at the fair again this year, they will not be officially promoting their books. Last year, several pseudo-models kissed and hugged their fans as a marketing strategy. Many visitors complained, saying this gave the fair a bad image and cheapened the supposedly cultural event.
But many of the models believe banning them from this year's fair is a very harsh decision. 'The book fair organisation has unfairly based their decision to ban pseudo-model book-signing activities purely on subjective statements made by the media,' says Rainbow Woo Sum-nok, an 18-year-old model who belongs to modelling group Donut.
Woo and her fellow models had planned to meet fans and give out doughnuts at the book fair. She believes the organisers' worries about the girls' dress and behaviour are unnecessary.
'We dress appropriately in accordance with the nature of events,' Woo says. 'We are just going to wear clothes that make us look beautiful.'