The Shanghai Book Fair has been upgraded and iterated this year, creating a new atmosphere of bookish Shanghai. ② | Over the past 20 years, it has been flourishing and flourishing. Panda | Lu Xun | Shanghai
"The participation of the entire population in reading in Shanghai is high, and the Shanghai Book Fair's proposal of 'Shanghai First Release, National Bestseller' has been recognized by readers and the industry. We are optimistic about this platform, especially the cultural influence of this platform," said Liu Qingsong, the president and editor in chief of Liaohai Publishing House, who led the team to Shanghai. This year, the core publishing house under Liaoning Publishing Group participated in the Shanghai Book Fair for the first time in the form of an independent booth. On the popular booth, the heavyweight new book "For example, mountaineering - My Path to Growth" attracted attention.
"Not seen in three years, looking forward to experiencing the cultural atmosphere of Shanghai and the enthusiasm of Shanghai citizens." Huazhong University of Science and Technology Press from Wuhan also has an independent booth, said Li Shengwei, the head of the Integrated Media Center.
Returning to the old times and places, starting today, the 2023 Shanghai Book Fair and "Bookish China" Shanghai Week will meet with readers, authors, and publishers from all over the country at the Shanghai Exhibition Center. As the birthplace and center of China's modern news and publishing industry, Shanghai has a profound cultural heritage, and the China Modern News and Publishing Museum, which has been brewing for many years, was recently completed and opened. Since 2004, the Shanghai Book Fair, which has been meticulously crafted and explored for nearly 20 years, has become one of the most influential and reputable mass book exhibitions in the Chinese publishing industry. Through numerous innovative practices, it has set a model and benchmark for the national industry.
This year, with the goal of creating a national book exhibition in Shanghai, the flourishing Shanghai Book Exhibition has shown a new trend of upgrading and iteration in terms of layout, positioning, exhibition lineup, and cultural orientation. The original intention of "making the Shanghai Book Fair a true platform for serving the whole country" will write a new chapter for this reading event in the summer of August. For example, climbing mountains and bravely climbing high peaks is like planting trees, where green trees provide shade.
Quality pursuit, openness orientation, mutual achievement between readers and book exhibitions
"In Shanghai, book exhibitions may be the most popular festival among the general public," writer and scholar Mao Jian once wrote.
The Shanghai Book Fair is a holiday for readers. "Whether it's stormy or hot, as long as you step into the exhibition site, there will always be a crowd of people. Every August this week, when you see an endless stream of readers carrying books out in bags, what can stimulate professional pride and satisfaction more than this as an editor?" Some senior publishers lament that many publishing organizations regard the Shanghai Book Fair as the best "first lesson" for new editors to enter the job.
In the eyes of many authors and publishing professionals, high-level readers can be regarded as the "miracle" of the Shanghai Book Fair. Why are there so many enthusiastic and loyal readers? Of course, it is related to the cultural heritage and civic literacy of this city, and is connected to the "moistening things silently" promoted by the public for many years. It is also cultivated by the value pursuit of "building a platform for quality" at the Shanghai Book Fair year after year.
Readers come to the Shanghai Book Fair, eager for excellence and high concentration of good books; The second trend is towards freshness, with a high rate of new book appearances. In 2008, the Shanghai Book Fair first established the "Guest of Honor Province" model, showcasing the latest achievements of various provinces and cities in the field of publishing culture; In the same year, the concept of "Shanghai First Release, National Bestseller" was first introduced, aiming to attract new books from all over the country to debut in Shanghai through the brand advantage and market advantage of the Shanghai Book Fair, and then push Shanghai to the national market, gradually building Shanghai into a highland of the national publishing industry and a gathering place for new and key books. This year, the publishing area outside of Shanghai has significantly increased, demonstrating the openness and broad mindedness written in the spiritual character of Shanghai. It has also set new directions and opened up new horizons for readers - one of the important values of reading is to broaden one's horizons.
"For the city of Shanghai, openness is the cornerstone, as well as the foundation for development and prosperity. The same goes for Shanghai's culture, which embraces all rivers, has a great capacity, meets China and the West, and is connected in all directions. This is the vitality of Shanghai." Scholar and Executive Vice Curator of Ba Jin's Former Residence, Zhou Limin, said, "The Shanghai Book Fair showcases the charm of Shanghai's urban culture, as well as the brilliance of the whole country and the world. Let the charm and brilliance illuminate the hearts of readers and illuminate the way forward."
"The book fair in Shanghai will inevitably face the whole country," said Kan Ninghui, President of Century Publishing Group. "The high recognition and expectations of many publishers and publishing units towards the Shanghai Book Fair are precisely due to its inclusiveness, openness, and internationalism. The Shanghai Book Fair and its readers have enough enthusiasm, confidence, and vision to allow the niche to move from here to the public."
"The Shanghai Book Fair is a book exhibition for readers. It allows the entire city to focus on publishing and reading for a few days, allowing good books from publishers to truly face readers, and allowing readers to feel that in daily life, there is still such a beautiful thing as reading," said Nie Zhenning, a senior publisher and chairman of the Taofen Foundation.
Cultural linkage, knowledge circulation, book exhibitions and cities complement each other
The Panda Bookstore, located on Tangpalladium Street in Jinjiang District, Chengdu, Sichuan, just opened last month. During the Shanghai Book Fair, the adorable "Panda" visited the 1927 Lu Xun and Neishan Memorial Bookstore located on the former site of Neishan Bookstore on Sichuan North Road in Shanghai. In these two characteristic bookstores in Shanghai and Sichuan, each has set up a book cultural and creative exhibition and sales shelf with each other's elements as the theme. Shanghai readers who love pandas can embrace "national treasures", while Lu Xun's themed cultural and creative works from Shanghai have conveyed Shanghai's red cultural genes to the Panda Bookstore in Chengdu.
The Panda Bookstore and the 1927 Lu Xun and Neishan Memorial Bookstore are respectively under the jurisdiction of Sichuan Wenxuan and Shanghai Xinhua. After 2019, Sichuan once again served as the host province of this year's Shanghai Book Fair, promoting this cultural "linkage".
Linkage is also a key keyword of the Shanghai Book Fair. It is the "linkage" between the main venue of the Shanghai Exhibition Center and the sub venues opened throughout the city and even for the first time in Sanming, Fujian. It is the "linkage" of Shanghai local brand physical bookstores that spread the culture of the Shanghai Book Fair nationwide. It is the "linkage" that gathers high-quality cultural resources from all over the country, connects the upstream and downstream of the publishing industry, and is also the "linkage" that publishers across the country look forward to visiting colleagues, learning from each other, directly communicating with readers, and listening to feedback. The book exhibition is not a static display of books, but a vibrant exchange and interaction that allows excellent Chinese culture to flow and continue.
This year, various districts in Shanghai have launched "one district, one characteristic" book exhibition sub venues. The Chongming sub venue has moved the activity venue to homestays in the countryside for the first time. Writer Zhao Lihong, who spent her youth on the island, will return to her hometown with a self selected collection of essays, "Odes to the Jianglu River." If the public reads good books, and if every good book can meet a kindred spirit, then high-quality book exhibitions will inevitably thrive. ". Despite being located in a relatively remote area, since 2014, the Chongming branch has successively welcomed multiple winners of the Mao Dun Literature Award, including Liu Xinglong, Ge Fei, and Liu Liangcheng. It is of high quality, and even more down-to-earth. The temperament of the Shanghai Book Fair can be seen from it.
This year, as an important sub brand of the Shanghai Book Fair, Shanghai International Literature Week will hold a total of 45 talks, sales and other activities, with the highest number in history. The "Climbing Plan" promotion activities of the China Writers Association and the "Reader Conference" of the China Publishing Group will both be held at the Shanghai Book Fair for the first time. The first 2023 Shanghai Book Fair Industry Summit Forum will invite leading figures in the Chinese publishing industry, focusing on the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese culture and the mission of publishers.
"Book exhibitions are an important means of knowledge production, circulation, and sharing, providing books with a new opportunity to witness the growth of civilization with readers. In the new era, in the context of multiple media moving forward together, book exhibitions and the various efforts made for them are important and indispensable." said Chen Fumin, a writer and researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who is about to exchange ideas with readers at the Shanghai Book Fair with the cultural essay collection "40 degrees north latitude".
The Shanghai Book Fair is a link that carries the ideas of the times for high-quality theme publishing, the historical mission of cultural inheritance and development, and the driving force for promoting industrial integration and development. This strong cultural bond brings the "People's City" closer and farther, making the "Shanghai Culture" brand more brilliant. And the city is filled with the fragrance of books, which has already become the most beautiful daily scenery in this city.
