《TAIPEI TIMES》 Book exhibition opens in Taipei

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter, with CNA

More than 500 publishers from 29 countries are attending the Taipei International Book Exhibition this year, which opened at Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center yesterday.

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President William Lai （賴清德）, Minister of Culture Li Yuan （李遠）, Italian Economic, Trade and Cultural Promotion Office Representative Marco Lombardi and Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an （潘孟安） attended the opening ceremony.

“There is no guarantee for financial gains if you invest in the stock market, but gains are guaranteed if you invest in yourself by reading books. Knowledge is power, and it is worth it to buy and read books,” Lai told the opening ceremony.

“Culture is the root of the country and soul of Taiwan. Book publishers are important in transmitting culture. I thank and salute everyone in the publication industry,” he said.

The president also purchased 48 books after visiting different stands at the fair, from Taiwanese writer Ping Lu’s （平路） trilogy of Taiwan, the Taiwanese comic Day Off, an autobiography of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co founder Morris Chang （張忠謀）, The Evolution of Deliberative Democracy in Taiwan （台灣審議民主的進化時代） published by the National Taiwan University Press and the Chinese translation of US psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.

Readers aged 18 to 22 can enter the exhibition free of charge with “culture coins,” Li said.

The Ministry of Culture began distributing culture coins to teenagers aged 13 to 15 this year, with each person to receive 600.

However, due to budget cuts, they can only receive one coin in return if they use two at the fair, instead of two, Li said.

Readers in the previous exhibitions could redeem their admission fee by buying a book at the fair, but the benefit is now available only to those visiting on weekdays, Li said.

Li, who was a writer and screenwriter before serving as culture minister, also expressed hope that more Taiwanese books could be adapted into movies and TV dramas.

The book fair this year, with the theme “Follow Your Fancy in Reading,” features several pavilions, including those for independent publishers, non-governmental organizations, children’s books, digital and artificial intelligence （AI） publications, Taiwanese comics and publications from Italy, which is the theme country this year.

The exhibition is also presenting books published by Hong Kong writers, some of whom are scheduled to talk at forums during the show.

“Freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law are vanishing quickly in Hong Kong, causing many of Hong Kong’s artists and writers to come and settle in Taiwan,” Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng （邱垂正） said. “Creativity needs to develop in a free space, which has slowly disappeared. They can regain their creative freedom when they come to Taiwan.”

The digital pavilion features a story jointly created by eight writers with AI called The Hotel of Crossed Destinies.

The exhibition’s forums are also to feature authors from overseas, including Japanese writer Banana Yoshimoto, Italian writers Davide Cali and Fabiano Massimi, and Czech writers Magdalena Platzova and Marek Torcik.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES