The 13th Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE), sponsored by the Government Information Office, is slated to open tomorrow at the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC).
The annual event will feature a series of exhibitions and discussions that reflect reading activities and trends in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the organizer, the private Taipei Book Fair Foundation.
During the book fair, two major reading trends will be highlighted: "book art" and "digital publishing."
The TIBE 2005 will take place at three different TWTC halls, with Hall I divided into five major sections -- international publishers and their publications; general books; books of special interest; and assorted magazines featuring business, finance, digital content, popular culture and lifestyle.
Hall II will be dedicated to comic books to accommodate domestic and foreign publishers, while Hall III will be devoted to children's books and will include 400 booths displaying works from both Taiwan and abroad, according to the organizer.
Halls I and III will be open only to professional visitors tomorrow and Wednesday, but the public can take part in the activities in Hall II throughout the event and in Halls I and III from Thursday. The show will run until Feb. 20.
Meanwhile, to celebrate the book festival, two major chain bookstore operators in Taiwan -- Eslite and Kingstone -- have already launched "fun reading book fairs" at their 20 branches across the island prior to the TIBE 2005 opening.
Taipei Book Fair Foundation Chairman Rex How said yesterday that the bookstore activities, which began on Feb. 1 and will run until Feb. 28, are not only warm-ups for the exhibition but also an effort to promote the upcoming TIBE at bookstores around the country.
The effort is aimed at boosting a nationwide reading atmosphere, How said, adding that he hopes those who live in townships and villages outside of Taipei City and not able to visit the TIBE 2005 can still feel the book-fair atmosphere and buy books with the same discounts that book-fair visitors will enjoy.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last