The Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE,
Jointly organized by Cite Publishing (
Attracting publishing houses from around the world, the annual event has become Asia's largest and the world's fourth-largest international book exhibition since its inaugural show in 1987. This year a total of 925 publishing houses representing 51 countries are set to fill 2,078 booths at TWTC's I and II exhibition halls.
Although this is a slight drop in last year's record-breaking figures, which saw 925 publishing houses displaying their tomes in 2,092 booths, this year's TIBE has been touted by organizers as the most "reader friendly" in the event's history.
In contrast to previous TIBEs, where entrance to the event for the opening two days was restricted to those within the publishing industry, this year will see the entire six-day event open to the general book-reading public. The move is expected to substantially boost the number of visitors and organizers anticipate a huge turnout. They are already predicting the number of visitors will be between 250,000 and 300,000 over the six days.
"This year's TIBE is not the largest, but we do expect it to attract more visitors than ever before. There are over 2,000 stalls, many of which represent local publishing, which is a main feature of this years event," said Chairman of the TIBE Organizing Committee Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志). "There are also many special events focusing on special topics, which will bring together local and international publishing houses."
In order to appeal to the large number of visitors expected at TIBE 2004, the show has been divided into six major exhibition areas, the largest and most extensive of which is the publications area. This area includes the international exhibitors' area, where foreign exhibitors representing publishing houses from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Americas and Africa will be displaying their wares.
The children's books area will see publishing houses specializing in children's and teen books. There is a general-books area, where both paper and hardback fiction and non-fiction will be available, as well as a spiritual and religious books area, which will include inspirational, philosophical and religious texts. Magazines will also be available this year and have an area of the TWTC set aside for them for first time.
As always, the comic book area is expected to prove one of the event's biggest draws. Under the auspices of the Comic Artist Labor Union in Taipei (
Large numbers of fans of cosplay will be on hand at the comic book pavilion dressed up as their favorite comic book characters.
Those feeling left out and not bedecked in costumes or toting the latest in comic book merchandise will be able stock-up on the latest in comic book chic paraphernalia at a special comic book merchandise pavilion.
While organizers are putting an emphasis on the reading public this year, publishing deals and publishing rights negotiations between local and international publishing houses remain a major part of the event.
"TIBE may have changed somewhat this year, with more focus on the reader, but we still hope that the event will bring together publishing houses from all over the world in order to sign deals and develop new contacts," said Huang Hwei-chen (黃輝珍) of the GIO.
"We hope that through the event local publishing houses will continue to develop and raise the standard of international publishing."
Along with books, there will also be a chance for visitors to catch up with the latest in Internet and digital publishing applications, as well as multimedia and e-learning material at the TIBE 2004 Digital Cultural Area.
Unlike previous years, when there was a "Country of Honor," no one country is celebrated at this year's TIBE.
There are, however, several special events and related exhibitions set to take place over the coming week focusing on Italian illustrators.
Art Design Italy: Illustrations features works by 41 Italian illustrators; Art Design: Italy showcases works by 10 Italian designers. The International Publishers and Special Book Design features works by US publishing company Chronicle Books and Corraini Editions from Italy.
On a harsh winter afternoon last month, 2,000 protesters marched and chanted slogans such as “CCP out” and “Korea for Koreans” in Seoul’s popular Gangnam District. Participants — mostly students — wore caps printed with the Chinese characters for “exterminate communism” (滅共) and held banners reading “Heaven will destroy the Chinese Communist Party” (天滅中共). During the march, Park Jun-young, the leader of the protest organizer “Free University,” a conservative youth movement, who was on a hunger strike, collapsed after delivering a speech in sub-zero temperatures and was later hospitalized. Several protesters shaved their heads at the end of the demonstration. A
The term “pirates” as used in Asia was a European term that, as scholar of Asian pirate history Robert J. Antony has observed, became globalized during the European colonial era. Indeed, European colonial administrators often contemptuously dismissed entire Asian peoples or polities as “pirates,” a term that in practice meant raiders not sanctioned by any European state. For example, an image of the American punitive action against the indigenous people in 1867 was styled in Harper’s Weekly as “Attack of United States Marines and Sailors on the pirates of the island of Formosa, East Indies.” The status of such raiders in
As much as I’m a mountain person, I have to admit that the ocean has a singular power to clear my head. The rhythmic push and pull of the waves is profoundly restorative. I’ve found that fixing my gaze on the horizon quickly shifts my mental gearbox into neutral. I’m not alone in savoring this kind of natural therapy, of course. Several locations along Taiwan’s coast — Shalun Beach (沙崙海水浴場) near Tamsui and Cisingtan (七星潭) in Hualien are two of the most famous — regularly draw crowds of sightseers. If you want to contemplate the vastness of the ocean in true
On paper, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) enters this year’s nine-in-one elections with almost nowhere to go but up. Yet, there are fears in the pan-green camp that they may not do much better then they did in 2022. Though the DPP did somewhat better at the city and county councillor level in 2022, at the “big six” municipality mayoral and county commissioner level, it was a disaster for the party. Then-president and party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) made a string of serious strategic miscalculations that led to the party’s worst-ever result at the top executive level. That year, the party
RSS