Talking points

The annual Beijing Book Fair opens, featuring 500,000 titles by over 650 publishers. More than 3,500 bookstores and government buying agencies from home and abroad will attend the fair. According to the organiser, 2,350 exhibition booths at the China International Exhibition Centre have been reserved. For the first time, the fair will provide retail services and sell used books at a discount.

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor leads a Hong Kong delegation to the latest round of the Hong Kong/Shenzhen Co-operation Meeting across the border. Senior officials of the neighbouring cities are expected to have much to discuss in the closed-doors session, not least the problem of parallel traders from the mainland, who are accused of clogging up border towns and hogging resources. Lam has previously called for close co-operation with Shenzhen to tackle the problem.