Encountering the oasis of the soul, the Shanghai Book Fair and readers who love it have returned together! Reading Books and Exhibiting Literature | Vice Chairman | Shanghai
"When it comes to repairing ancient books, every step should not be taken lightly. It is meaningful to show readers this skill at the book fair." Zhu Jing, born in 1976, has been engaged in ancient book restoration for 15 years and is the fourth generation inheritor of this skill at the Shanghai Book Company. "Following my master's footsteps, every time a damaged ancient book is restored to its glory in my own hands, the sense of achievement is unparalleled."
The 2023 Shanghai Book Fair and "Bookish China" Shanghai Week opened on August 16th at the Shanghai Exhibition Center. As one of the special projects of the Century National Studies Museum this year, Zhu Jing has been on-site repairing ancient books for 7 consecutive days, and her desk is like an oasis in the sea of books. As soon as we arrived here, our hearts calmed down. Zheng Jingyi, a junior student at Shanghai University of Technology who was very interested in archaeology, restoration, and other fields, stopped and carefully observed every step of Zhu Jing.
With the passion and respect for reading and culture in this city, the Shanghai Book Fair and readers have returned together. At this citizen's reading carnival, reading "books" and "exhibitions", there is both activity and stillness, and more diverse cultural needs are waiting to be met.
Let the national publishing essence gather
Li Zi, an 80 year old retired teacher from Shanghai Electric Power University, inquired about the day's activity schedule at the service desk. "Perhaps it's because I'm older, the volunteers not only told me to scan the code to get the reader's manual, but also specifically printed a copy for me." In the hallway of the central hall, the old man flipped through a stack of brightly colored guides, searching for his next destination. In a cloth bag on his shoulder was a collection of three books he had just bought, titled 'Biting Words'.
Wang Lin, born in the 1980s, took her child to a book exhibition and found that there were more various guides in the venue this year. You can look at the floor stickers under your feet while browsing, and the vertical screen at the entrance of each activity area scrolls the activity arrangements for the day and the future. "The layout of the venue is somewhat different from previous years, and exploring it is surprising. With more guides, you can better plan the whole day."
"The first Shanghai Book Fair was held, and my daughter is not yet one year old. Since then, she has had fewer opportunities to accompany her every summer vacation. Now that her daughter is a college student, she also loves to visit book fairs." Peng Weiguo, Vice President of Century Publishing Group, arrived at the venue early in the morning. For this veteran book industry person, the Shanghai Book Fair is another child like existence.
This year's Shanghai Book Fair aims to create a national book exhibition in Shanghai, further enhancing its service capabilities nationwide. Based on presenting high-quality Shanghai edition books, it will introduce more and better domestic high-quality reading content. The main stage of the Central Hall used to be located in the Sichuan exhibition area this year, demonstrating the highest level of hospitality from the organizers to the host province. The three-dimensional book "Approaching Sanxingdui" selected for the monthly list of "Chinese Good Books" is a flagship product of Sichuan Children's Publishing House. It not only has a single three-dimensional scene, but also can be pieced together into a huge three-dimensional panoramic view of Sanxingdui after the pages are disassembled. As soon as the three-dimensional "Sanxingdui" unfolds on the floor, it attracts readers to gather. "We brought 5 sets of books this time." Upon hearing the staff's introduction, a reader immediately rushed to the sales area of the Sichuan exhibition group located in the national book collection exhibition area.
On the first day of the book fair, the main guest province exhibition area held multiple events, including the signing of a cooperation agreement between Sichuan Xinhua Publishing Group and Hong Kong United Publishing Group, as well as the book sharing event for "Research on Bimo's Native Culture Series", "Discovering Li Zhuang", and "Meizhou's Three Sus: The Life Stories of Su Xun, Su Shi, and Su Zhe". Scholars such as Li Bo, a professor from Nanjing Normal University, and Luo Yuming, a professor from the Chinese Department of Fudan University, made appearances and were very popular.
The nationwide reading activity "Reader's Conference" initiated by China Publishing Group is themed "Tasting the Book Fragrance of China, Transferring Reading Power". Ge Jianxiong, Luo Pinghan, Mo Lifeng, Xu Hong, Chen Jin, Cao Wenxuan, Fan Deng, and others share their insights with readers in the "Great Revival", "Cultural Inheritance", "Technological Power", and "Book Fragrant Youth" sections.
Make literature the source of creativity
Under the leadership of Shandong writer Yang Zhijun, who had just won the Mao Dun Literature Award with his work "Snow Mountain and Earth," at the Shanghai Book Fair, writers, publishers, and readers recited in unison.
On the first day of the book exhibition, the Chinese Writers Association launched a joint exhibition of works from the "Walking Scenery - New Era Literature Climbing Plan". In the next week, Bi Feiyu's "Welcome to the World", Lu Tianming's "Along the Way", Ouyang Qiansen's "Mo Daojun's Early Journey", Yang Zhijun's "Snow Mountain and Earth", Xiong Yuqun's "Golden Market", Li Fengqun's "Under the Moon", and Xiaobai's work sharing sessions will meet with readers at the book exhibition.
"The purpose of the 'Climbing Plan' is simplicity, which is to write and publish better works." Writer Bi Feiyu said, "I am a beneficiary of the 'Climbing Plan' and also a sports enthusiast. I have a direct understanding of climbing, and every step must overcome my weight and laziness. When climbing has a plan, it has an idealistic color, inspiring and inspiring us to go beyond materialism and reach the spiritual world."
Li Jingze, Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association and Director of the China Modern Literature Museum, stated that the focus of the "Climbing Plan" lies in the publication and dissemination of literature, as well as the translation and transformation of literary works. "We look forward to using the Shanghai Book Fair, a platform with international influence, especially strong appeal among readers, to make good writers and works known to more people and receive stronger dissemination."
Wang Wei, Secretary of the Party Group and Full time Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Writers Association, said, "Shanghai is an important birthplace of modern Chinese literature. Shanghai is the Shanghai of the whole country. The Shanghai Book Fair and various activity platforms of Shanghai Literature warmly welcome friends from the national literary community to come and make appearances, and together we create and share the brilliance of an international cultural metropolis."
At this year's book fair, Yuewen Group has arranged the exhibition area as a scene for the TV drama "In the World", attracting many readers to check in. This TV drama, adapted from the award-winning work of Mao Dun Literature Award, has created a phenomenon of viewership, highlighting the power of literature as the source of creativity. In the "Cross border Reading Zone", Shanghai Xixi Film Industry, which participated for the first time, showcased realistic themed dramas such as "The Sea in Dreams".
"This year's Shanghai Book Fair, in addition to promoting new works by writers, we also collaborated with Shangshi Film to hold a workshop on 'Literature and Film: Creator Exchange', inviting 18 writers and 12 producers to have face-to-face exchanges, which is also a response to the theme of the 'Narrative Community' of this year's Shanghai International Literature Week. The 'Youth Creator Plan' series of salons held at the East Pavilion in the picture will focus on contemporary Chinese stories told by young creators." Cai Xin, Deputy Editor in Chief of CITIC Publishing Group, introduced. The creative cross-border and literary source signals conveyed by the Shanghai Book Fair have been captured by the industry.
Empowering Traditional Culture with Numbers
This year, the preface hall of the Shanghai Book Fair held the first national boutique exhibition on digital integrated publishing, focusing on the emerging new entities, new formats, and new consumption models of digital publishing across the country. Some readers lament that after browsing through this digital publishing corridor, they realize that there are so many rich forms of digital publishing.
The Digital Publishing Hall in the Century · National Studies Museum showcases the main achievements of Shanghai's publishing force in digital transformation in three sub areas of reference books, excellent traditional culture, and educational publishing in recent years.
In 2008, Tsinghua University rescued a batch of precious bamboo slips and named them "Tsinghua slips" as an example. Professor Qiu Xigui from the Center for Research on Excavated Documents and Ancient Chinese Characters at Fudan University once commented, "Among the unearthed materials in recent years, Tsinghua bamboo slips have been the most important. It is difficult to say whether such materials can be found in the future, and whether more important materials can be found. Before Tsinghua bamboo slips were released, no one could have imagined that such a batch of things could be encountered but not sought after." At the book exhibition, readers can experience the "Tsinghua University Warring States Bamboo Slips" e-book platform developed and constructed in cooperation with the Center for Research and Protection of Excavated Documents at Tsinghua University and the Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, which includes all digital texts and original book images of the Qinghua bamboo slip sorting report.
The "Judian Data Open Platform", which was first released at the 2020 Shanghai Book Fair, once again chose to release the 2.0 version with more complete functions and wider applications at the book fair. As an innovative Internet data service product based on traditional reference books, Judian Data Open Platform has carried out in-depth cooperation with more than 40 applications such as learning power, liberation · Shangguan, WeChat reading, Baidu encyclopedia, palm reading and starting reading, providing more than 100 million knowledge inspection services for more than 40 million users, including more than 5 million overseas users. Version 2.0 utilizes the latest artificial intelligence technology to systematically sort and restructure over 4.3 million reference book data, significantly expanding the number of entries from the content side; Sort out user behavior, apply intelligent technology, achieve intelligent association between checked entries and database knowledge, automatically identify word extraction errors and correct push notifications, further improve user experience, improve retrieval rate, expand data types, improve docking efficiency, and better meet the knowledge inspection needs in different digital reading scenarios.
The first appearance at this year's book fair is also the "Shanggu Huidian · Ancient Books Digital Service Platform", which has launched 300 million words of content, including the core literature sorting of Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, filling the gap in digital resources of ancient books in the field of literature, history, and philosophy. Focusing on the two most commonly used notation methods in ancient China, namely the Jianzi notation and the Gongchi notation, the current translation of ancient music notation is expected to solve the long-standing problem of difficult inheritance and dissemination of ancient music notation. To learn the qin, to learn the characters, and to learn the notation, simply swipe the screen and readers can directly understand the ancient Chinese notation method. An example of its application is the song "A Smile in the Sea".
On the other side, using the "Piano Bus" app, the little piano boy played a lively melody on the piano.
Making Reading a Childhood Background
The children who love reading are the most beautiful scenery of the Shanghai Book Fair, and the book fair has also prepared rich activities for them.
The Chen Bochui Children's Book House, which reappears after two years, features the theme of "meeting", indicating that the chairs of the Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award are full of creativity. The shell shaped seats stand on the open books, and the distant blue sea and sky, with a fountain pen shaped lighthouse towering, contain the beautiful meaning of "picking up shells from the sea of books" and "illuminating childhood".
"This year, the Children's Bookstore focuses on technology integration on site, such as the interactive project 'Drawing Together with AI'. Visitors can answer incoming calls, have voice calls with AI, and convey the content and style of the illustrations they want to generate. In just a few minutes, a unique illustration will be generated on the screen. We hope that readers can not only experience AI's open and creative painting creation, but also explore the collision and integration of art and technology together. At this year's Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award Illustration Exhibition, the illustrations generated on site with readers may become a unique section." said Kong Xiangjun, curator of Baoshan International Folk Art Expo.
"My Grandparents are Super Cool" from the UK depicts their later years, with scenes such as ice skating and yoga breaking readers' stereotypes of the elderly. In front of the projection interactive wall, young readers can "read" the plot of their grandparents riding a roller coaster and rushing down the picture book by touching the glowing device with their fingers. "This book was first released at the Shanghai Book Fair and was awarded the Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award for Picture Book of the Year," said translator Zhang Hong.
The interactive animations of two award-winning picture books, "On the Right Side of the First Floor" and "A Little Sky", "The Sound of Snowy Days" and "Heart Voice Recitation Space", as well as three interactive games designed for the picture book "Different 1" - "Find Differences, Find Similarities, and Read Continuously" - make young readers linger in the children's book house and forget to leave. "We have accumulated three years of creativity and brought it to readers at once," Kong Xiangjun smiled.
This year's Shanghai Book Fair also set up a "Shanghai Good Children's Book" special area for the first time to display, among which the 30 types of books unveiled in the 10th "Shanghai Good Children's Book" are all included, such as Yin Jianling's "Cloud Top", Huang Beijia's "Calling for a Teacher", Li Shanshan's "Adventures in Tree Holes", Zhang Jinjiang's "New Talks on Mountains and Seas: Ancient Customs Volume", and so on. In this year's "Shanghai Good Children's Books" selection, children's literature and picture books were the biggest gains, accounting for 24 types, covering topics such as fairy tales, myths, real life, natural scenery, historical reflections, and technological knowledge. Wang Yan, President of East China Normal University Press, introduced to readers the innovation and practical significance of the 12 volume new mythological novels in the "New Shuo Shan Hai Jing" series at the new book press conference.
Using the concept of "one square meter" cleverly, East China Normal University Press has arranged "one square meter dinosaur exhibition" and "one square meter science popularization exhibition", with on-site 2-meter long simulated dinosaur skeleton models, replicated dinosaur footprint fossils, etc., bringing immersive science popularization experiences to young people
Link: Traveling Through the Past and Present Lives of a Bookstore
With the classic image of the old Shanghai Shikumen as the theme, this year, the Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore booth appeared in the social science and cultural exhibition area on the second floor of the West Hall of the Shanghai Book Fair.
Founded in the 1930s by Mr. Zou Taofen in Shanghai, "Life Bookstore" is the predecessor of Sanlian Bookstore. At the booth of Sanlian Bookstore in Shanghai, Mr. Taofen's inscription on the purpose of "serving readers wholeheartedly" is very eye-catching, showcasing the founding intention and spiritual connotation of this bookstore with nearly a century of history. A 2-meter-wide and 3-meter-high LED screen scrolls through old photos of street views and bookstore buildings with different styles from the 1930s to 1950s. Choose an old photo you like as the background and take a photo with it, as if traveling back to the past and experiencing the reading time of the past.
The Sanlian Bookstore History Exhibition Area, jointly created by the Taofen Memorial Hall and Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore, displays precious historical artifacts such as books and purchase invoices published by "Life Bookstore", "Book Publishing House", and "New Knowledge Bookstore" at that time. There are also walls with text and pictures of the store history, as well as walls with video playback of the store history. In the exhibition area, you can also see the achievements of Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore's innovation and development in keeping up with the times, distributed in bookstores and reading spaces in different cities, towns, and villages across the country, allowing the light of this "spiritual home" to radiate and serve readers in more areas.
Before the book fair, Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore has released online and offline activity forecasts during the book fair through Xiaohongshu and other platforms, and invited authors and editors to share book content and publishing stories with readers online through Tmall and Tiktok live broadcast, so as to guide each other online and offline. "We hope that through the unique exhibition booths of the book fair, readers can have a deeper and more intuitive understanding of the development history and cultural heritage of Sanlian Bookstore while selecting and purchasing books," said Chen Yiling, General Manager of Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore.
First release of the Shanghai Civilization Cultivation Series of Readers
On the first day of the book exhibition, the Shanghai Civilization Cultivation Series Reading Press Conference and the Book Gift Ceremony for "Our Shanghai" and "Happiness in Growth" were held.
On the basis of the "Our Shanghai - New Era, New Style, and New Stories" essay solicitation activity organized by the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department and the Municipal Civilization Office, "Our Shanghai" selected 60 excellent works from over 3000 manuscripts and compiled them into a book. The works in the book come from life, from the front line, from struggle, from noble spirit to human kindness, from traditional virtues to the trend of the times, from major projects to small household matters, from stories around citizens, with sincere emotions. Each chapter in the book selects important statements related to the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China as the concluding remarks, further telling the story of Shanghai being a pioneer in reform and opening up and innovative development.
"Happiness in Growth" selects 194 comic works from the 5000 works database of "Kobayashi Comics" that are in line with the theme of civilization cultivation. It focuses on the concepts of happy movement, healthy growth, hard work, rationality and peace, and incorporates themes such as socialist core values, Shanghai's urban spirit and character, the construction of civic morality in the new era, and the "New Seven Nos" norms, which resonate with readers.
IMAX, Singapore Beach Villa Film Co., Ltd., a production company under Blue Ant Media, and China International Communications Group Interpret China Studio announced on July 3 that they will jointly produce the documentary film "Elephant Journey". This film will document the migration journey of wild Asian elephant herds that began in 2020, presenting the habitat of wild elephant herds - the hidden scenery of Yunnan, China, and revealing the stories and little-known secrets between humans and wild elephants. The documentary film has a duration of approximately 90 minutes and is currently being produced in China using IMAX cameras. It is planned to be released in IMAX theaters in 2024. "Elephant Journey" not only presents the relationship between humans and wild elephants, but also records from a new perspective the well-known departure of 16 wild Asian elephants in March 2020
On the morning of July 1st, the rehearsal hall of Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe was transformed into a movie set. The camera, lighting, track, and rocker arm are in place, and through director Zheng Dasheng's monitor, the Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe actors can be seen in high-definition shots, with their bodies dancing and the camera moving in perfect coordination. Zheng Dasheng was wearing a hoodie with four words printed on his back: "Be brave.". Making a popular dance drama into a movie does require courage. During the filming process, it was even more important to be bold and meticulous. A dance scene between "Li Xia" and "Little Tailor" was repeatedly filmed. Director Zheng Dasheng stared closely at the monitor. This was the first day of filming for the dance drama documentary film "Eternal Waves", and the set was busy and orderly. This film was directed by the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, and co produced by the Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe under SMG and Shangshi Film Industry. It also directed the film "1921"
The 2023 Key Cultural and Creative Enterprises Stable Growth Service Season in Pudong New Area was launched on June 16th. The event is hosted by the Propaganda Department of the Pudong New Area Committee, aiming to integrate comprehensive resources such as government departments, industry experts, entrepreneur representatives, and social institutions, optimize the development ecology of cultural and creative enterprises, and promote higher quality development of the cultural and creative industry. During the activity season, a group of cultural and creative industry stable growth service leading mentors were hired, and at the same time, the "Yiqi Tongxin" service specialist team officially made its debut. In the future, it will create "Five Ones" heartwarming services, namely "one dedicated line", "one email", "one information exchange platform", "one park enterprise interactive WeChat matrix", and "one special coordination specialist team". The team will focus on serving as policy communicators, problem coordinators, and development escorts, continuously optimizing the business environment with down-to-earth and thoughtful services, and enabling enterprises to
The solo exhibition "A Good Magnolia - Xu Jinping's Traditional Chinese Painting Works Exhibition" by Xu Jinping, a Chinese painter and vice chairman of the Shanxi Artists Association, was held at the Shanghai Xinjinjie Art Space from June 3 to July 10. This exhibition showcases nearly 20 works created by Xu Jinping in recent years with the theme of magnolias. Xu Jinping's flower and bird paintings combine the overall poetic beauty and fresh charm, showing the special charm of the blending of form and spirit. The thousand branches and ten thousand stamens of magnolia flowers in his pen rise up, as if soaking in snow, showcasing a noble temperament against the backdrop of ancient architecture. Xu Jinping uses clever blank space and exquisite techniques to convey the essence and aesthetic taste of traditional Chinese art in his light and natural brushstrokes. The exhibition is under the academic guidance of Mao Shi'an, Vice Chairman of the China Association of Literary Critics. He stated, "Mr. Xu's works..."
"On July 13, 2021, after reading the script sent to me by Teacher Cao Baoping, Hu Ge and the director added us on WeChat. I saw a topic we usually avoid - death - in the script of" Not Void This Journey ". Eastern culture is not very willing to face death, so people are not very prepared and death catches people off guard. I have a similar experience." "Not Void This Journey" was produced by Cao Baoping, written and directed by Liu Jiayin, and led by Hu Ge, starring Wu Lei. Qi Xi starred, with Bai Ke playing a special role. The movie tells the story of an ordinary screenwriter named Wen Shan who falls behind and begins to make a living by writing eulogies. Through his encounters with various ordinary people, Wen Shan comforts others and gains warmth, ultimately finding his own self