Shanghai Book Fair: Expressing the unique culture and customs of Southern Yangtze Delta

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02:22

This year's Shanghai Book Fair opened yesterday. Other events to look out for during the Shanghai Book Fair include exhibitions on Red culture, Shanghai style culture and customs in the Southern Yangtze Delta. Reporter Zhang Yue fills us in on the details.

ZHANG YUE "This book about the music history of Jews in Shanghai during World War II has attracted early attention. It's one of the books displayed at the Red Culture, Shanghai Style Culture and Southern Yangtze Delta Culture Book Exhibition."

XIANG XING BOOK FAIR VISITOR "It's the first time I've seen books about Shanghai style culture. Since I was born and raised here, it's fun to learn about this part of our history."

PENG WEIGUO DEPUTY DIRECTOR, SHANGHAI PRESS AND PUBLICATION BUREAU "Shanghai has a rich history. It's steeped in red culture, Shanghai style culture and southern Yangtze Delta culture. Meanwhile, this year marks the 200th anniversary of Carl Marx's birth. It was a good time to call up some main publishers around the Yangtze Delta Region and ask them to recommend some books about these topics."

ZHANG YUE SHANGHAI "15 years ago, the Shanghai Book Fair was founded as a small scale book purchasing event, but now it's one of the largest of its kind in the country. 500 new titles will be available along with more than 1,150 reading events this year. An organizer says both are in line with their main goals."

PENG WEIGUO DEPUTY DIRECTOR, SHANGHAI PRESS AND PUBLICATION BUREAU "We have been holding reading events across the city during the book fair since 2014. This year, 100 venues will host reading events, compared to 40 last year. The Shanghai Book Fair is not just about selling books."

GU WENQING BOOK FAIR VISITOR "I used to come just to buy books, but I started going to reading events last year. I am going to the 'Fan Hua' book signing, and I am also going to meet the previous editor-in-chief of the magazine 'Meng Ya'."

Organizers have also set up venues for reading events in the suburbs, including bookstores in Chongming, Jinshan, and Qingpu. Discounts of 20% will be available on all books, just like at the book fair.