The fifth China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair (CCBF), which will take place at the Shanghai Expo Exhibition Center from Nov 17 to 19, will be larger in scale and feature more Chinese products.

Established in 2013, the CCBF is the only book fair in the Asia Pacific region that focuses solely on books for young readers under 16 years old. This year, the exhibition will take up 25,000 square meters, 12 percent larger than the previous edition.

More than 360 publishing houses and creative institutions from more than 50 countries and areas will be showcasing 60,000 new children's books titles. About one third of these books will be from overseas markets while foreign exhibitors will account for up to 40 percent of those in attendance.

Shanghai Century Publishing Group, the largest exhibitor at the fair, will showcase a series of new books from China "that feature China's traditional culture or reflect the latest creative achievements of contemporary Chinese literature for children", said Bi Sheng, head of the sales department of Century Publishing.

Bi added that the Shanghai People's Art Press will be rolling out a new series of books on folklores and classical stories that are expected to attract wide interest among overseas publishers and copyright agencies. He noted that books about traditional Chinese poetry and science education are also likely to be popular at the fair.

The Juvenile and Children's Publishing House, which falls under Century Publishing, has sold the copyrights of 266 books to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. The company said that it hopes to conclude more electronic copyrights deals this year.

One of the book fair's highlights would be the addition of the Chen Bochui International Award for Children's Literature, which was named after a Chinese writer renowned for his children's books. This year, more than 200 picture books from 20 countries have registered for the award competition.

According to Wang Yichuan, head of the cultural administration of Baoshan district where the award ceremony will be held, the winning books will be featured in a special exhibition at the Bologna Children's Book Fair, the largest of its kind in the world, from Mar 26 to 29 next year.

"We will take advantage of this opportunity to promote the award to the international community. We hope to attract more artists to participate in the event, and in the process, have more stories of China told to children all over the world," said Wang.

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(China Daily USA 11/10/2017 page9)