The 10th Cross-Strait Book Fair opens on October 17

The 10th Cross-Strait Book Fair will be held in Taiwan from October 16 to October 23, 2014. The main venue at Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall will be open from October 17 to 19. Cross-Strait book exhibition and sales sub-venues will be set up in four counties and cities, namely Kaohsiung City, Taichung City, Tainan City and Pingtung County, with exhibition periods from October 18 to 24. At 10 a.m. on October 17, the opening ceremony of the 10th Cross-Strait Book Fair will be held at the main venue, Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall in Taipei.

The Cross-Strait Book Fair was founded in Xiamen in 2005. It is the only professional cross-Strait publishing exchange exhibition jointly hosted by the publishing industries on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and held alternately between Xiamen and Taipei every year. So far, it has been successfully held 9 times across the strait. In the first 9 editions, the Cross-Strait Book Fair covered an exhibition area of 150,000 sq m, with 4,800 participating publishing units (cumulative count) from both sides, 6,500 booths, a cumulative total of 1 million titles and 7.3 million copies of exhibited books, on-site book retail and orders worth 285 million yuan, and 1,103 copyright trade and cooperation projects reached.

The Cross-Strait Book Fair has developed into the highest-level, largest-scale and most content-rich publishing exchange event across the strait. It has become an important platform for emotional communication in the cross-Strait publishing circles, an important window for showcasing achievements, an important bridge for exchange and cooperation, and an important brand for industry development. It has received enthusiastic participation from the book industries on both sides and is widely welcomed by readers across the strait.

The 10th Cross-Strait Book Fair is jointly hosted by the Publishers Association of China, the Xiamen Municipal People's Government, the Fujian Provincial Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, the Taiwan Book Publishing Association, the Taiwan Book Distribution Association, and the Taipei Book Publishers' Association. It is jointly organized by the Zhejiang Provincial Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, the Xiamen Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Television, Press and Publication, the Strait Publishing and Distribution Group Co., Ltd., Xiamen Foreign Books Group Co., Ltd., Beijing Shuyouzhijia Cultural Exchange Co., Ltd. and the Taiwan Book Publishing Association. The executing bodies are the Taiwan Book Publishing Association and Xiamen Foreign Books Group Co., Ltd.

I. Participation of the cross-Strait publishing circles

At the invitation of the Taiwan Book Publishing Association, Song Mingchang, advisor to the Publishers Association of China, serves as the overall head of the mainland delegation. The mainland delegation, totaling 256 people, began arriving in Taipei this morning from 16 mainland cities with direct cross-Strait flights, and will join colleagues in Taiwan's book industry in participating in the 10th Cross-Strait Book Fair. A total of 202 mainland publishing houses (including 15 publishing groups and 38 independent publishing houses) and 22 libraries have registered for this edition of the book fair, covering 17 provinces (municipalities directly under the Central Government and autonomous regions). Nearly 100,000 titles of mainland books are being exhibited and sold, with a total of 310,000 copies, worth about 17 million yuan.

During the 10th Cross-Strait Book Fair, the mainland delegation will conduct in-depth exchanges with Taiwan publishing colleagues across multiple fields and links of the publishing industry, including cross-Strait book trade, copyright trading, content editing, publishing and printing technology, and publishing and distribution marketing management. They will learn from the digital transformation models and diversified development approaches of the cross-Strait publishing industry in the Internet era, discuss close cooperation and resource integration between the publishing industries across the strait, seek new business opportunities to jointly expand the global Chinese-language book market, and promote the common development of the cross-Strait publishing industry.

II. Main activity programs

The 10th Cross-Strait Book Fair will hold a total of 37 activities of various types, including 16 main activities. 1. Book display and sales; 2. Zhejiang Guest Province of Honor publishing achievements exhibition; 3. Library procurement and subscription, organizing communication and exchange among library professionals across the strait; 4. Cross-Strait book copyright trading, with a copyright trade area set up to promote cross-Strait copyright trade negotiations and cooperation; 5. Cross-Strait Publishing Summit Forum, where experts and scholars from both sides will take “exchange, cooperation, development and prosperity” as the theme to deeply discuss new ideas and new development for strengthening cross-Strait publishing cooperation; 6. Signing ceremony for cross-Strait publishing cooperation projects; 7. Cross-Strait book display and sales at the Kaohsiung City sub-venue; 8. Cross-Strait book display and sales at the Taichung City sub-venue; 9. Cross-Strait book display and sales at the Tainan City sub-venue; 10. Cross-Strait book display and sales at the Pingtung County sub-venue; 11. “Beautiful Fujian” photo exhibition at the Taipei main venue; 12. “Beautiful Xiamen” photo exhibition at the Kaohsiung City sub-venue; 13. Book signings by well-known writers from both sides, inviting 25 writers from both sides to sign books on site and hold lecture activities; 14. Cross-Strait Library Resource Development Symposium; 15. Cross-Strait publishing industry project cooperation matchmaking activities; 16. 10th Anniversary Achievements Exhibition of the Cross-Strait Book Fair, etc.

III. Main activity schedule

From 10:00 to 10:40 a.m. on October 17, the opening ceremony of the 10th Cross-Strait Book Fair will be held in Area A of Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center, and the results of the Dragon Youth Literature Award essay contest involving young writers from both sides will be announced and awards presented on site.

From 10:50 to 11:20 a.m. on October 17, the opening ceremony of the Guest Province of Honor pavilion will be held in the Zhejiang Guest Province of Honor exhibition area in Area A of Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center. Before and after the opening and during the fair, inheritors of mainland intangible cultural heritage will demonstrate on site the woodcarving techniques of Dongyang City, Zhejiang, and the Xiashi colored lantern-making craft of Haining City, Zhejiang. Zhou Yan, a first-class actor of the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe, and Li Xiaowen, also a first-class actor, will present authentic Yue opera singing and performance programs. A photography and picture exhibition of the world cultural heritage sites Hangzhou West Lake and the Grand Canal will also be held in Taiwan for the first time.

From 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon on October 17, the signing ceremony for cross-Strait publishing project cooperation will be held on the opening ceremony stage in Area A of Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center. A total of 6 cross-Strait publishing cooperation projects will be signed, namely: the mainland licensing signature for “Comprehensive Compilation of Chinese Folk Beliefs, Folk Cultural Classics and Documentary Materials since the Ming and Qing Dynasties”; the signing of exclusive mainland agency for the reprinted edition of “Lidai Bao'an”; the mainland China library distribution authorization for the high-fidelity reproduction edition of the 62-volume “Yongle Dadian” in the collection of the Palace Museum; the signing of a cooperation agreement between Beijing Copyright Agency Co., Ltd. and the Taiwan Book Publishers' Association; the authorization signing for Bi Shumin, vice chairman of the Beijing Writers Association, and Taiwan Metropolitan Culture Enterprise Co., Ltd. for “May You Embrace This World with Warmth”; and the signing of a compilation cooperation agreement with the Taiwan Yuanxiang Culture Society for “Selected Classic Works of 50 Taiwan Writers”.

From 14:00 to 16:45 on October 17, the Cross-Strait Publishing Summit Forum will be held in Meeting Room No. 3 on the second floor of Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center, with the theme “Exchange, Cooperation, Development, Prosperity”. More than 100 people from the cross-Strait publishing circles will gather to conduct in-depth discussions on multiple topics of cross-Strait publishing cooperation. Zhu Yongliang, vice president of Zhejiang Publishing United Group, Zhang Shuyan, general manager of Xiamen Dalongshu Culture Media Co., Ltd., Lin Zaijue, publisher of Taiwan Linking Publishing Co., and Yu Guoding, chairman of the Taiwan E-Book Association, are invited to deliver speeches. The speakers from both sides are Jiang Dade, deputy director of the Fujian Provincial Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, and Chen Benyuan, chairman of the Taiwan Book Publishing Association.

From October 17 to 19, more than 20 book signing and lecture activities with writers from both sides will be held at the Taipei main venue. From 14:00 to 16:45 on the afternoon of the 17th, the first to appear will be Zheng Chunyue of Taiwan Kesi Publishing House with “Twelve Lessons the School Did Not Teach”, and Luo Yaxuan will also hold a reading lecture and book signing event for “The Wind-Up Doll with a Broken Spring”.

Mainland writer Ye Yonglie never stopped writing throughout his life and is a popular science literature writer and reportage writer widely known to mainland readers. He once served as a council member of the World Science Fiction Society and honorary chairman of the Hong Kong, China Overseas Literary and Art Federation. Ye Yonglie, now 74 years old, has been invited to Taiwan this time and will sign copies of his latest work “Knocking on the Door of Taiwan's Celebrities” for Taiwan readers from 11:00 to 11:50 on October 18 at Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall, sharing with readers, from his unique perspective, his experiences traveling throughout Taiwan in recent years and his impressions of Taiwan's local customs and people.

Cartoonist Yao Feila was among the earliest contracted comic authors on the mainland, a founder and pioneer of mainland story comics, and founded what is currently the mainland's most influential comic team, whose cartoonists include Yu Yanshu and Xia Da. Yao Feila's comic work “Ghost Blows Out the Light” made a high-profile entry into the Japanese comics market. He is currently serializing the urban romance comic “80 degrees C”. Volumes 1-6 of the “80 degrees C” tankobon have already been officially released on the mainland, and the comic technique teaching comic “Pig-Head Comics Classroom” is also being serialized in the professional comics magazine “Cartoonist”. In addition, the mainland delegation has also organized other rich and varied cultural activities.

From 10:00 to 10:50 on October 18, an inspiration collision and creation exchange meeting will be held in the Zhejiang Guest Province of Honor exhibition area in Area A of Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center between veteran mainland cartoonist Yao Feila and Fang Wenshan, a top lyricist in the Chinese-language music scene in Taiwan and director.