Crowds flock to Hong Kong Book Fair for art, animation and food culture
With the theme ‘Food Culture, Food Living’, event features 770 exhibitors and opens alongside Sports and Leisure Expo and World of Snacks fair
Hundreds of visitors queued up outside the halls of the Hong Kong Book Fair hours before doors opened, with returning customers eyeing novels, comics and other products featuring famous animation characters.
The 35th edition of the week-long event, which features 770 exhibitors, opened at 10am on Wednesday at the Exhibition and Convention Centre in Wan Chai, together with the Sports and Leisure Expo and World of Snacks fair.
“After decades of development, the fair has become one of the largest in the region and has long shouldered the responsibility of facilitating East-meets-West cultural exchange, welcoming over 1 million visitors a year,” said Frederick Ma Si-hang, chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the fair organiser.
Among the earliest visitors was Monique Wong, who arrived at the venue at about 9am. She hoped to secure an album of drawings by her favourite Hong Kong artist B.wing, in collaboration with local illustrator Steven Choi.
“I was here last year as well because B.wing also released an album. The collaboration this year is rare and long-awaited, and I’m also looking to buy some models of the characters,” the 40-year-old marketing professional said.
B.wing is best known for creating the character A-boy, a wide-eyed seven-year-old boy in a rabbit costume who is part of the artist’s recurring exploration of the theme of solitude.