The 30th Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) ended on Sunday after seeing growth in both international copyright deals and visitors over the previous year.

As the second largest book fair in the world, the annual event brought together about 300,000 visitors and resulted in 2,100 copyright trade agreements between Chinese and foreign participants, respectively up some 50 percent and five percent over the corresponding figures of more than 200,000 and about 2,000 registered in 2023.

This year's copyright deals included 1,426 agreements of intent and formal agreements on copyright exports, 558 agreements of intent and formal agreements on copyright imports, and 116 agreements of intent on co-publishing. Children's books, social sciences and literature were the top three copyright export categories.

The five-day event drew to it 1,600 exhibitors from 71 countries and regions, with 220,000 different types of books on display, and with the holding of more than 1,000 cultural activities.

The fair included a series of activities to build platforms for communication between Chinese and foreign publishers. Meanwhile, Chinese publishers said they are building their sub-brands in niches such as humanity and science, and improving cooperation with foreign partners.
"The change from only recommending books to promoting brands, and from promoting books and to promoting publishers indicates increasing interaction and accelerating mutual learning between Chinese and foreign cultures," said Xu Hai, a publisher who attended the fair.
The participating publishers set up reading zones and organized innovative activities to attract readers. Visitors could purchase not only numerous books, but also various merchandise.

The National Library Bookstore in western Beijing displayed a three-dimensional exhibition of the prize-winning books to promote their classic publications.

"We have selected a number of old books containing award-winning works and used a new way of displaying them, listing the manuscripts inside the books as well as excerpts of wonderful passages, so that more people can be attracted to them at a glance and thus learn about the old books," said Chen Ran, product manager of the National Library Bookstore.

Exhibitors also opened live streaming with publishers and authors to promote new books, extending the book fair's reading atmosphere to the wider community.