People attend the 37th Beijing Book Fair in Beijing on January 9, 2025. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Featuring more than 400,000 kinds of books, the 37th Beijing Book Fair (BBF) opened in Beijing on Thursday. More than 2,900 booths at the venue exhibit items never before seen at the event such as the China University of Geosciences Press' jewelry shop. 

The jewelry section transforms knowledge of gemstones found in books into tangible products like gemstone charms and fossil blindboxes. 

Li Yingzheng, a representative of the publishing house, told the Global Times that launching the "jewelry and book" combo is their strategy to connect to people. At the 2025 BBF, the Chinese publishing industry's "creative transformation" is a very visible trend, Li Ke'an, a book industry analyst, told the Global Times.

Seeking "creative transformation" is not just the publishing house's choice, but a trend shared among the Chinese publishing industry at the fair, which is why a cultural and creative exhibition area has been launched for the first time at BBF. 

Including Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP) and China University of Geosciences Press, numerous publishers have presented their creative products at the fair. Such products are closely related to the publishers' most notable book IPs. For example, there is an umbrella inspired by FLTRP's New Concept English, a popular textbook series. It has long been dubbed a must-read for people learning English in China. 

"If we stick to promoting textbook as books, then we will only reach a very limited group. However, if we use the textbook series as an IP to make new products that can evoke people's collective memory, then our book products are likely to attract more interest from a wider audience," a staff member at the publisher surnamed Wang told the Global Times.  

"Developing book IPs and seeking cross-field collaborations with the creative industry is now a wind vane for the industry. Transforming the intangible spirit of books into something tangible is sure to shed light on the print publishing industry," Ma Xiang, a book industry promoter, told the Global Times. 

Besides the new cultural and creative sector, the fair also boasts exhibition areas featuring publishers specializing in categories such as social sciences, sciences and technology, children's book and culture. 

Many publishers have become more focused on using trending social and cultural issues as means to produce good works. 

At the fair, the appearance of Portraits in Black Myth: Wukong, a companion book co-published by CITIC Press for the phenomenal video game Black Myth: Wukong was a highlight. 

This book was released to capitalize on the game's popularity. Feng Yuting, a representative of the book's publisher, CITIC Press, told the Global Times that they also plan to release the book overseas in the future to help foreign players understand and appreciate the Chinese stories from the novel Journey to the West, which inspired the game.

"Besides Black Myth: Wukong, other Chinese game companies are collaborating to explore cross-industry innovation and use games as a medium to promote Chinese culture," she noted.

Other than the "book and gaming" combination, the "impact of AI" has also become a popular theme among publishers. Yuval Noah Harari's NEXUS has been praised by many Chinese readers, according to the book's publisher CITIC Press.

"For the publishing industry, AI is not just a technical tool; it is also a force that is influencing cultural dissemination and literary creation," she noted.