On October 27, the 3-day Ninth Zhejiang Book Fair came to an end in Ningbo. After nine years, the Zhejiang Book Fair has accumulated more experience and added new prospects. This long-lasting and innovative cultural event allows us to explore how Zhejiang uses books as a boat to move towards "beauty".
Respect good books and draw fresh water from the source
The protagonist of the book fair is books. If you pay careful attention, you will find that the Zhejiang Book Fair over the years has one thing in common: the books occupying booth C are not necessarily the best-selling or latest ones, but they must be good books.
This year’s “golden booths” are still the Yangtze River Delta Joint Pavilion and the China Edition Group Pavilion. All major outstanding publishing houses from Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, and the “national team” in the publishing industry, China Publishing Group, were on stage. The Mao Dun Literary Award-winning works "Flowers" and "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, the large-scale historical document "Fuxing Library" by Zhonghua Book Company, the well-known TV series "Awakening Age" by Anhui People's Publishing House, and the long-selling works of Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House "West Lake Folk Tales" that has been produced for more than 40 years... In the words of the publisher present, "the C position should be given to the most outstanding work in the agency."
During the book fair, the "Salute to the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China" high-quality books, the "Five One Project" award-winning books of the Central Propaganda Department, the Zhejiang version of good books, and the "Chinese Good Books" theme display were selected and launched. Publications that received feedback on "scouring" have been classified and displayed in a centralized manner to facilitate readers' search.
Without good writers, good books are like "water without a source."
Zhejiang is a major publishing province and important town, and has achieved a number of landmark results. Among them, Zhejiang Publishing Group alone has more than 100 publications that have won national awards such as the "Five One Project" Award, China Publishing Government Award, China Outstanding Publication Award, and China Good Books.
In order to pay tribute and express gratitude, one of the supporting activities of this Zhejiang Book Fair - the first Zhejiang Publishing Group Outstanding Authors Conference was recently held in Hangzhou. A number of authors were invited to gather and share the glory. At the meeting, the first "Wenlan Award" was awarded. The writing team of "Working hard and setting the trend—Xi Jinping's footprints in Zhejiang", Wang Huimin, Xu Jingeng, and Shen Shixi received heavy and golden medals. They are all authors who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of theme publishing, humanities and social sciences, and children's publishing.
Without a good editor, potentially great books can get buried.
The authors who participated in the author conference unanimously believed that authors and editors are comrades in the trenches who share the responsibility of dedicating quality works to readers. "Editing is an invisible but vital force in our cultural creation and production... On behalf of all the outstanding authors here, I pay tribute to all the outstanding editors of the Zhejiang Publishing Group." Li Jingze, vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association, made a speech that won the audience received applause from everyone present.
This gathering made Xu Jian, president of the China Reportage Association, "feel flattered." He sincerely lamented: This reflects the publisher's sufficient respect for the author and the market.
Respecting every good book and the people who create it is exactly the attitude upheld by the Zhejiang Book Fair.
Reading for all creates a spiritual magnetic field
The protagonists of book fairs are also human beings. The Zhejiang Book Fair is not only a book fair, but also a reading carnival for the public to participate interactively, experience in-depth, and share fun.
Due to the "high concentration of writers", the book fair is a "star-chasing scene" for book lovers. Compared with chasing movie stars and singers, people who chase writers may be more reserved. For example, in the theme sharing activity of "Winners of the Mao Dun Literature Prize", most of the readers listening in the audience were middle-aged people, with calm expressions, as if they were deep in thought. Of course, there is also the "craziness" of young people. For example, the sharing session for Ma Boyong's new book "Southern Eaters" happened to be on a weekend, and some fans traveled across the city to Ningbo just to take photos and sign autographs with him.
Mao Dun Literature Prize winner Sun Ganlu participated in the Zhejiang Book Fair for the first time. He believes that readers are not the only ones who benefit from book fairs. “No matter how the way of communication changes, people will always meet. Feedback from readers is an incentive for authors, allowing them to devote themselves more to writing.”
The "Urban Firefly" book exchange conference, which has been held in Haishu District, Ningbo City for 10 years, is here again.
How to understand the meaning of book exchange? A book friend said: "For the elderly, what changes may be a state of mind, an expectation and sustenance; for young people, what changes may be a kind of fate, an encounter and resonance; for children, what changes may be It is a kind of fun, curiosity and exploration. only through exchange can there be intersection and society, which may enrich life. "
People in Zhejiang care about Zhejiang, and they also care about distant places with fists and love. The "Yong Book Circulation" public welfare book donation project has been running for five consecutive years. "Book Circulation" reading stations have been set up in bookstores, communities, government agencies and other public places to re-release valuable books donated by citizens for free reading or donation. To areas in need. This year, the event donated a total of about 30,000 books to Liangshan, Sichuan, Tianjun, Qinghai, and Kuqa, Xinjiang, aiming to build reading bridges connecting the east and west, across mountains and seas, and connect local children on the road to "poetry and distance" .
The book fair is not only during the day, but also at night; not only inside the venue, but also outside. There are more than 100 book fair branch venues set up across the province, spread across every corner of the city, and many supporting activities include famous writers.
Reading alone is learning, while reading in a group can form a high-energy spiritual magnetic field.
Innovation and openness integrated into daily life
The overall book retail market is still in a downward trend; online book circulation is greater than offline; many physical bookstores are facing a survival crisis... In recent years, the "challenge" may be the biggest challenge for book industry practitioners from different regions and different divisions of labor in the industry chain. Words that are often on the lips.
More than 300 publishing houses and more than 20 of the country’s “most beautiful bookstores” gathered at this year’s Zhejiang Book Fair. While they highlight their characteristics, they also demonstrate confidence and attitude - positivity, innovation and openness.
Yangming mini puzzles, Yangming cartoon refrigerator magnets, Yangming trendy ornaments... In front of the booth of "Pu Wenming Bookstore", various cultural and creative products with Yangming themes accounted for "half of the country", and many young people The faces are carefully chosen. "One-third of the income comes from selling books, one-third comes from cultural creation, and the other third comes from specialty tea drinks." Gan Cijie, the manager of "Pu Wenming Bookstore" said about the bookstore's "way to survive."
Not only bookstores, but also major publishing units have expanded their promotions, and regional characteristic book derivatives such as Song Yun Cultural and Creative Industries, Forbidden City Cultural and Creative Industries, Dunhuang Cultural and Creative Industries, etc. have also gathered at the exhibition.
"Panda Bookstore", an internet celebrity bookstore brand born in Chengdu last year, was invited to the Zhejiang Book Fair. The charm of pandas is unstoppable. "Huahua" dolls, "Menglan" water cups, "Qizai" refrigerator magnets... Various panda cultural creations, combined with panda books from major publishing houses, make this the most popular place in the book fair. place. Xu Yuzhe, the relevant person in charge of Ningbo Xinhua Bookstore Group Co., Ltd. said with emotion that this is also a rare learning opportunity for colleagues in Zhejiang.
The new development trend of "IP + content" in the book industry is the original intention of this Zhejiang Book Fair to be jointly organized with the 2024 Maritime Silk Road Culture and Tourism Expo and the 2024 Ningbo International Tourism Expo.
In the eyes of Bao Chaojie, a member of the Party Committee of Ningbo Cultural Tourism Convention and Exhibition Group Co., Ltd., this is an innovative measure based on a profound insight into the new trends in the development of the cultural industry. “Combining three exhibitions with strongly related themes and similar audience groups is intended to Pathfinder shares resources and complements its advantages, and combines culture with tourism, technology, and creativity through the 'Culture+' model to expand the circle of friends in multiple dimensions."
"In particular, unlike previous government-oriented activities where the government set up a stage to perform, the 'Three Exhibitions' takes 'market-oriented exhibitions' as its core concept and 'the government sets up a stage and enterprises perform' to stimulate the vitality of cultural enterprises and gradually Shift to socially oriented activities," said Bao Chaojie.
The chemical reaction brought about by this fusion can be seen everywhere at the scene. For example, at the Yuyao Cultural Tourism booth, the scenery of green water, green mountains, village cafes, and camping tables and chairs led tourists to "walk into" Siming Mountain. There was also a person dressed as Sun Wukong taking photos with tourists. Experts have verified that Siming Mountain in Yuyao may be the prototype of Huaguo Mountain in the four famous works "Journey to the West". "This is a new reading scene that we have built that integrates culture and tourism, so that reading can happen anywhere." said the relevant person in charge of the Yuyao Municipal Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau.
At the 9th Zhejiang Book Fair, we saw the insistence on good books from all walks of life and the insistence on reading for all, which also redefined "reading" - it can jump out of books and desks and enter daily life.
