15th Beijing International Book Fair

By ZAN JIFANG

The 15th Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) is to be held in Tianjin on September 1-4. It is the first time that the fair is held outside of Beijing.

The change of venue is because the book fair coincides with the closing of the Beijing Olympic Games and the opening of the Paralympic Games, said Jiao Guoying, General Manager of the China National Publications Import and Export (Group) Corp., the sponsor of the fair, at a press conference in Beijing on July 14.

According to Jiao, the 2008 BIBF will have an exhibition area of 35,000 square meters with 1,370 exhibition stages, which will present books from 1,300 publishers of over 50 countries and regions. All the leading publishing houses in the world, including the Penguin Group, one of the world's leading consumer publishing businesses, and the Elsevier Group, the world's leading publisher of science and health information, will attend the exhibition, said Jiao.

The book fair this year will continue to exhibit children's cartoon productions and digital publishing productions, provide a copyright trade center and promote books published in China, said Jiao.

Greece will be the major guest at the book fair. With a theme of "Sea, Sun, Sky, Sea Breeze, Women-A Journey of 3,000 Years," the Greek exhibition will cover an area of some 700 square meters and showcase the cultural charm of the country as the origin of the Western civilization.

The 2008 BIBF International Copyright Trade Seminar and the 2008 Beijing International Publishing Forum will also be held during the fair. In addition, a brain-storming session, called BIBF10+10, participated by 20 international publishers, will be convened to discuss issues of common concerns. For the first time, a "10+10" meeting between Chinese publishers and their U.S. and British counterparts will be held respectively.

BIBF is one of the four largest book fairs in the world. The theme of the 2008 BIBF is "the New Trend of International Publishing Cooperation," which connects the aspirations of Chinese publishers and foreign publishing institutions aiming to deepen communication and cooperation against the background of globalization.