2024 Beijing International Book Fair Photo: VCG

Boasting a total of 220,000 books from China and abroad, the 2024 Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) kicked off in Beijing on Wednesday. Since 1986, the BIBF has been the most international book event in China. 

Saudi Arabia is the guest of honor this year. Its pavilion is a showroom that displays not only upcoming Arabic publications on Chinese history, but also photos and Saudi instruments like the oud, a fretless stringed instrument. A staff member at the pavilion told the Global Times that this design aims to "engage Chinese visitors in the diverse and comprehensive culture of Saudi Arabia." 

Representative of local Saudi publishers like the Madarek Publishing House are attending the event. Sara Elzein, the publishing house's CEO, told the Global Times that her company had signed an agreement for a new collaboration program with the Jiangxi People's Publishing House on the opening day. 

"[The China-proposed] Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has had a positive impact on the publishing industry. The new book we collaborated on together focuses on the subject and also the Chinese approach to modernity," Elzein told the Global Times. She added that these publications aim to help Saudi readers learn about "China's unique development path." 

The 2024 event is hosting 1,050 overseas exhibitors, 150 more than 2023. Global publishing powerhouse countries like Germany, the UK and France also have pavilions.

Claudia Kaiser, a vice president of the Frankfurt Book Fair, told the Global Times that she has been a regular participant of the event, which has helped her learn more about "how Chinese people approach reading" and aided the European market to better connect with peers in Asia. 

While noting she highly values the BIBF's international ambiance and diversity, Kaiser told the Global Times that the Frankfurt Book Fair in October will launch an "Asian Stage" program focusing on the book industry's growth in Asia. 

This year, the Italian Trade Commission Beijing Office has organized several renowned Italian publishers to form the Italian National Pavilion.

"We hope to promote and strengthen the friendship between Chinese and Italian people through rich and diverse cultural interactions at BIBF. We also wish for more and better outcomes in China-Italy cultural exchanges," Francesco Pensabene, the trade commissioner of the Italian Trade Commission Beijing Office.

With the theme "deepening exchanges and learning between civilizations, building a win-win future filled with cooperation," this iteration of BIBF has added 15 new participating countries compared with 2023, including Bangladesh, the Philippines, the Czech ­Republic, Slovakia, New Zealand, and Nigeria. Nearby East Asian countries like Japan have also joined the event. 

"We know that Chinese readers have very broad interests, and we are very happy to learn that Chinese readers and publishers have a good impression of Japanese books. We were quite cautious in selecting the works for this exhibition, so we mainly brought children's books, medical books, and applied books," Yutaka Nambu, senior manager of the International Rights Group, told the Global Times. 

The exhibited books cover categories such as philosophy and social sciences, ancient books, science and technology, literature and art, and children's books. 

For some partners like France, the BIBF event is only a starting point for further cultural communication with China. 

Nicolas Pillerel, minister counselor for Culture, Education, and Scientific Affairs at the French Embassy in China, told the Global Times that besides the "dynamic" BIBF agenda, several book-related awards like the Fu Lei Translation and Publishing Award in China can connect Chinese writers and translators to their peers in France. 

Founded in 1986, the BIBF has become the second-largest book fair in the world and the most internationalized book fair in Asia. 

The 2024 event is scheduled to end on June 23.