Queuing Up
in Hong Kong
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (AUGUST 2004)
Droves
of wide-eyed children queued up outside the Hong Kong
Convention Center on the eve of the July 21st opening
of the Hong Kong Book Fair in the hopes of having
first dibs in the fair’s famed comic book section. The
grown-ups weren’t far behind, as this year’s fair drew
a record crowd of 503,396 people — 70,000 more than
the previous record set in 2002. The Trade Development
Council, which organizes the six-day book event,
attributes the boost in attendance to the improving
economy, the introduction of a discount for mainland
visitors, and an extension of evening sessions.
A new exhibit called the “International Cultural Village”
featured books from far and wide, notably Poland, Egypt,
Canada, Malaysia, and Singapore. Though France was the
only country in the village to bring out authors (including
Jean-Michel Sourd), they drew little attention
from the local population. The convention organizers
said the performance of the Village exhibit would be
reviewed, and there is a strong possibility it will
be back again next year.
Some topics cross East-West cultural boundaries: Attendees
couldn’t get enough of the latest celebrity autobiographies
and books detailing diet secrets. Parenting books also
flew off the tables, as did books printed on the mainland
with simplified Chinese characters. Low prices, an improvement
in print quality, and a wider selection of titles all
contributed to the rise in sales at this year’s fair.
Over the past four years, the festival has expanded
to include seminars by writers and intellectuals from
Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Chinese mainland — many of
whom see the fair as an opportunity to discuss Chinese
culture and issues that can’t be aired as openly in
other regions. Local poets were invited to recite their
work at the fair for the first time. The readings included
performances in Arabic, Cantonese, English, French,
Mandarin and Portuguese, with the US represented by
Madeleine Marie Slavick and Stephen Richards.
“The fair can create a platform for creative Chinese
people to share their vision and share their views about
the publishing industry, cultural issues and Greater
China,” said Lorna Lai, webmaster of Hong Kong-based
Joint Publishing.
Another massive noteworthy change this year was the
establishment of a web-based copyright exchange, which
allows publishers who want to buy the copyright for
a book to translate it into English or Chinese to send
their contact information to another publisher anytime
or anywhere. The online copyright exchange can be found
at http://bds.hkbookfair.com/ chi/book_enquiry/copyright/book_search.asp.
Though the festival draws quite a local crowd, representatives
of the Shanghai-based Big Apple Tuttle-Mori agency
haven’t attended for a number of years. As executive
director Luc Kwanten points out, “By and large,
it’s a fair during which publishers, especially the
Taiwanese, liquidate their warehouses. It is also a
sales fair and attendance is massive.”
But, for most of those who were present, it was worth
the wait in line, and you better expect there will be
droves next year.
PT thanks Lorna
Lai for contributing to this report.
©2004
Publishing Trends
