The 2025 Shanghai Book Fair, held from August 13 to 19, adopted a dual-main-venue format at the Shanghai Exhibition Center and Shanghai Book City, complemented by 16 district sub-venues and 100 participating bookstores across the city.

The fair welcomed over 382,000 visitors, a 28.4 percent increase year-on-year, with book sales totaling 64.73 million yuan (about $8.9 million). Sales of cultural and creative products also surged, doubling to 10.17 million yuan (about $1.4 million).

For the first time, Wuzhen in Zhejiang co-hosted the fair. Leveraging its proximity to Shanghai, the ancient water town combined its cultural heritage and vibrant theater scene with books, transforming the Reading Festival into a one-stop cultural carnival.

Wuzhen now offers more than 70 reading spaces, from teahouses and hotels to bars and dining rooms, turning the entire town into what Darina Gallagher, director of the James Joyce Centre in Dublin, described as "one big flowing library." Gallagher joined the events in both Shanghai and Wuzhen, delivering literary lectures and engaging in panel discussions with Chinese readers.

"I especially like the emphasis on readers," she said. "I hope to share these ideas with literary festivals back in Ireland. Cultural exchanges of this kind are truly inspiring."

The charm of reading now pervades the entire Yangtze River Delta. Centered in Shanghai, the book fair has brought together over 30 bookstores and dealers from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces, offering tens of thousands of books and cultural products.

Across the two main venues, a total of 1,267 reading events were held, nearly 24 percent more than last year. From Shakespeare-themed literary goods to traditional Chinese hair ornaments, the fair provided readers with a space where culture meets commerce, boosting cultural consumption and opening new growth opportunities.

Visitors could eat, drink, rest, or swap their "book hauls," blending everyday life with literary charm to create a unique urban scene. Big data monitoring shows the event directly generated about 181 million yuan ($25 million) in spending on dining, retail, accommodation, and transportation. During the fair, the average daily foot traffic in the Nanjing West Road commercial district reached 568,000, fueling a 39.07 percent year-on-year increase in offline retail and dining.

Ding Lijie, marketing director of the Shanghai Translation Publishing House, told CGTN that their booth offered visitors a blend of immersive experiences to savor the joy of reading, including online and offline events, creative cultural products, and interactive activities.

"For example, this year our cultural and creative theme is Eternal Summer Garden, inspired by imagery from Shakespeare's sonnets," she explained. "Even if visitors haven't read the works before, a single line or image on these products may spark their interest in reading."

The Reading Night Market in Shanghai drew 25 percent of its visitors from outside the city, highlighting the strong spillover effect of integrating culture, tourism, commerce, sports, and exhibitions. By combining a book fair with city tours, the event has enriched urban travel by creating a dynamic space where people and books could come together.