Promotional material of the Temple of Earth and Me book fair in Beijing Photo: Courtesy of the organizer

Over 400,000 books are expected to be showcased at the upcoming The Temple of Earth and Me book fair in Beijing, a record high for the number of books and covering prolific genres from Chinese colorism to international award-winning series.

With a long history, the 11-day book fair is set to start on September 8 in Ditan Park, also known as the Temple of Earth. The second largest imperial altar in the city, it used to serve as a site to worship the Earth God during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911).

This book fair has a total exhibition area of 15,000 square meters, with 350 exhibition booths divided in eight special areas displaying high-quality books from 208 exhibitors.

Different exhibition areas will meet the needs of different readers. 

Highlights include a Beijing Cultural Exhibition Area, which will combine the history and cultural heritage of the Temple of Earth to showcase the rich history of this capital city. The area will focus on the display and sale of outstanding traditional Chinese culture books and ancient books.

The Bookstore Exhibition Area will bring together a large number of influential bookstores such as China Books and PAGEONE, to showcase each store's unique concepts, selected collections and independent cultural products as well.

The Foreign Books Exhibition Area collects more than 5,000 kinds of foreign language books such as the Harry Potter series and more than 1,000 kinds of foreign audio and video products, classical music and hi-fi CDs.

During the book fair, many famous writers will be there to present readers with a special reading experience of masterpieces: Cao Wenxuan, Hans Christian Andersen Award winner, will give a reading sharing session of his realistic children's novel Pomegranate Boat, and Qiao Ye, winner of the 11th Mao Dun Literature Award, will meet readers with his award-winning "soil novel" Bao Shui.

This year's book fair will be free for visitors and each exhibitor will launch discount promotions. The book market will also fulfill its social responsibilities by launching a donation campaign for disaster-stricken areas.

Global Times