The Shanghai Book Fair () is a large-scale cultural event themed around reading held annually in Shanghai each August.
History The fair was founded in 2004. The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication renamed and expanded the Shanghai Book Trade Fair, which had begun in 2002, and from 2004 onwards opened it to the public with paid admission for book purchasing. The Shanghai Book Fair is jointly organised by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government and the National Radio and Television Administration, and is held at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre at 1000 Middle .
History of editions 1981 Shanghai Book Market The Shanghai Book Market was held from 6 to 20 September 1981 at the Technical Innovation Hall of the Shanghai Industrial Exhibition Centre (now Shanghai Centre) at 1376 West Nanjing Road, with a usable floor space of 3,500 square metres, and was organised by the Shanghai Xinhua Bookstore, with the Shanghai Bookstore and Shanghai Foreign Language Bookstore as co-organisers. The market featured seven exhibition halls: a comprehensive hall for literature, history, and philosophy; a hall for science, technology, and textbooks; a hall for Shanghai publications; a hall for publications from other provinces and cities; a music (audio cassette) hall; an antiquarian books hall; and a foreign books hall. Over 22,000 titles were exhibited. The market distributed 280,000 admission tickets, received 240,000 visitors, and sold 4 million volumes of books worth 2.4 million yuan. Opening hours were 8:00–11:00 in the morning and 14:00–17:00 in the afternoon, making it the only Shanghai book market to close at midday. Two evening sessions were also specially held during the market.
1986 Shanghai Book Market The Shanghai Book Market was held from 6 to 20 September 1986 in East Hall One of the Shanghai Exhibition Centre, jointly organised by the Shanghai Xinhua Bookstore together with Jiefang Daily, Wenhui Bao, Xinmin Evening News, Shanghai People's Radio Station, and Shanghai Television Station. Ten specialist halls were set up for this market. Some 30,000 titles were available. During the entire market, 200,000 visitors were received, and 2.5 million volumes of books worth 3.4 million yuan were sold at retail.
1996 Shanghai Book Market The first Shanghai Book Festival and 1996 Shanghai Book Market was held from 9 to 18 August 1996 at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre, organised by the Publicity Department of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPC and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication, and hosted by the Shanghai Xinhua Bookstore. Sixteen exhibition halls were set up for this market, with 100,000 titles including books, audio-visual products, and electronic publications from over 500 publishers nationwide, among them 20,000 audio-visual products and electronic publications.
Over 50 cultural activities were held inside and outside the venue during this market, including the first Conference on Chinese Publishing at the Turn of the Century, a Shanghai booksellers' campaign donating books for children everywhere, a symposium on the prospects for Shanghai publications to expand into the mainland market at the turn of the century, a lecture on new trends in electronic publishing, a display of covers of 100 Shanghai periodicals along with a selection of the best Shanghai periodical covers, and an exhibition of achievements in Shanghai publishing. The selection of the Top Ten Shanghai Book Collectors resulted in the following ten being named: Ye Zhonghao, Chen Zishan, Wu Juntao, Zhang Rongming, Jin Wenming, Tao Shunliang, Liang Guoqiang, Cao Zhengwen, Lan Fan, and Qu Yongfa.
The market received 300,000 visitors in total, with a peak daily attendance of 43,000. A total of 11 million yuan worth of various types of books were sold.
1998 Shanghai Book Market The second Shanghai Book Market was held from 30 December 1998 to 8 January 1999 at the newly opened , organised by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication. Six bookstores served as co-hosts: the Shanghai Xinhua Bookstore, Shanghai Book City, Shanghai Book Company, Shanghai Foreign Book Company, China Science and Technology Book Company, and Shanghai Music Book Company. Simultaneously, sub-venues were opened at large bookstores and specialist bookstores on Fuzhou Road's Cultural Street, as well as at all Xinhua Bookstores across the city; a rural sub-venue was also set up in Jiading.
A total of 85 activities were organised for this book market. Shanghai Book City brought together 150,000 titles of books, periodicals, audio-visual products, and electronic publications. The entire market received 810,000 visitors and achieved total sales of 10.73 million yuan, of which Shanghai Book City alone accounted for 4.75 million yuan.
2001 Shanghai Book Market The Shanghai Reading Festival and the third Shanghai Book Market was held simultaneously from 28 December 2001 to 6 January 2002 at the newly opened Oriental Book City and the Oriental Publishing Transaction Centre in Pudong, organised by the Shanghai Invigorating China Reading Guidance Committee, and hosted by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication, the Pudong New Area Culture and Broadcasting Administration Bureau, the Shanghai Book and Periodical Distribution Industry Association, and the Shanghai Xinhua Distribution Group.
The book market adopted the theme of "The fragrance of books fills the city", and launched five series of activities: the opening series for the Oriental Publishing Transaction Centre and Oriental Book City; the citywide exhibition series featuring dual-venue exhibitions at Oriental Book City and Shanghai Book City as the main battleground; the "Cultural Feast" series; the "Assisting Education and Cultivating Virtue" series; and the education lecture series. These included exhibitions at 200 bookstores citywide, a "Cultural Feast" special train departure, the sending of Spring Festival couplets to rural residents, an anti-piracy knowledge exhibition, a centenary retrospective of science and technology publishing, an exhibition of twentieth-century publishing achievements, and numerous book signing events.
Oriental Book City received 500,000 visitors for this book market. Citywide mainstream book sales reached 22,007,900 yuan.
2004 Shanghai Book Fair The 2004 Shanghai Book Fair and Shanghai Reading Festival was held from 28 July to 2 August 2004 at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre, organised by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication. Over 130 publishers from 24 provinces and municipalities nationwide participated, with an exhibition area of 20,000 square metres. During the book fair, over 170 marketing activities were held, attracting 200,000 visitors and achieving retail sales of 13 million yuan.
2005 Shanghai Book Fair The 2005 Shanghai Book Fair was held from 6 to 14 August 2005 at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre, organised by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication. The opening coincided with Typhoon Matsa. The theme of this edition was "Reading makes life more harmonious". It comprised 22 exhibition halls including the main thematic hall and the Shanghai Featured Books Exhibition Hall. Over 170 activities were held during the book fair. A total of 300,000 visitors were received, with retail sales of 25 million yuan.
2006 Shanghai Book Fair The 2006 Shanghai Book Fair was held from 5 to 11 August 2006 at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre, organised by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication, with the Shanghai Exhibition Centre, Shanghai United Book Trade Exhibition Co., Ltd., and others as co-organisers. Prior to the fair, Shanghai United Book Trade Exhibition Co., Ltd. was established as a joint investment by 28 units in the Shanghai publishing industry, operating the Shanghai Book Fair through market-oriented methods. The theme of this edition was "I love reading, I love life". The total exhibition area reached 21,700 square metres, divided into 22 exhibition halls. Participating units including the China Publishing Group, , and Jiangsu's presented 100,000 titles and 300 cultural activities, attracting over 200,000 readers from Shanghai and across the country. On-site book signings were held during the fair featuring Wang Meng, Yi Zhongtian, Zhou Haiying, Wang Anyi, Yang Lan, Ye Xin, and others. Total retail sales during the entire fair reached 28 million yuan.
2007 Shanghai Book Fair The 2007 Shanghai Book Fair was held from 15 to 21 August 2007 at the Shanghai Mart at 2299 West Yan'an Road, organised by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication. The theme of this edition was "I love reading, I love life". Over 500 publishers from across the country participated. The exhibition area was 21,800 square metres, with 712 booths, and for the first time a manga and gaming hall was added. Over 100,000 titles were presented, including nearly 40,000 new titles and 12,000 original foreign-language books. Over 250 cultural activities were held. Nearly 200,000 people attended. Xi Jinping, then Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, visited the 2007 Shanghai Book Fair on 20 August.
2008 Shanghai Book Fair The 2008 Shanghai Book Fair was held from 13 to 19 August 2008 at the Shanghai Mart. The theme of this edition was "I love reading, I love life". Over 260 cultural activities were held, achieving retail sales of 26 million yuan and group purchase sales of 21.63 million yuan, with nearly 220,000 readers attending. This edition provided over 100,000 titles, including over 60,000 new titles. A total of 406 publishers from Beijing, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Chongqing, Hubei, Guangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Hunan, and other regions participated. This edition showcased three major themes: the 30th anniversary of reform and opening up, the Olympics, and earthquake relief, and organised activities across five categories: arts and culture, economics, education, health and sports, and leisure living. Over 40 titles held launch events at this edition. This edition of the Shanghai Book Fair was the first to introduce the Frankfurt Book Fair's concept of a "guest of honour country", establishing for the first time a "guest of honour province", with exhibition space provided free of charge. Anhui Province became the first-ever guest of honour province of the Shanghai Book Fair, with a focus on showcasing "100 Huizhou Culture Books", "100 Academic Books", "100 Bestselling Books", and selected audio-visual products recently published by the Anhui Publishing Group.
2009 Shanghai Book Fair The 2009 Shanghai Book Fair was held from 13 to 19 August 2009 at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre, organised by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication. The theme of this edition was "I love reading, I love life". This edition was primarily composed of over 40 Shanghai publishing units, together with over 470 publishers including the China Publishing Group and central and ministerial publishers in Beijing. Over 100,000 titles from across the country were presented, including over 60,000 new titles. More than 370 cultural activities were organised, including over 60 new book launches and book signing events. The main venue at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre received 240,000 visitors from Shanghai, across China, and overseas; sub-venues including Shanghai Book City, Boku Bookstore, the Ancient Books Bookstore, the Art Bookshop, Dazhong Bookstore, and Jifeng Books received over 300,000 visitors. Main venue sales reached 28 million yuan, and sub-venue sales reached 10 million yuan. The guest of honour province for this edition was Jiangsu Province, with 33 participating units from Jiangsu presenting over 4,000 Jiangsu publications and nearly 30 cultural activities. During the book fair, the 2009 Shanghai Book Fair Book Trade Fair was also held for three days, with total transactions reaching 188.41 million yuan.