Nearly 200,000 people have visited the 10th Taipei International Book Exhibition since it opened on Tuesday, officials of the Government Information Office said yesterday.
The exhibition, held at the Taipei World Trade Center, reached its climax yesterday -- the final day -- when tens of thousands of visitors flooded in to buy cheap publications or get autographs from their favorite writers, illustrators or cartoonists.
To highlight the importance of the book exhibition, President Chen Shui-bian (
He said that the 21st century will be an era of knowledge-based economies and the creation and use of knowledge will be the key to the success of countries and industries.
Chen said that as Taiwan has become a member of WTO, the government will do all it can to help industries transform to cope with upcoming challenges.
Describing the publishing industry as the foundation of the "knowledge industry," the president said this was a good vehicle to introduce Taiwan's culture to foreigners.
The exhibition attracted 1,015 exhibitors from 47 countries, and was divided into five topical areas: international exhibitors, children's books, general books, comic books and e-books.
The main theme pavilion of the exhibition this year featured books from Japan and many eminent Japanese writers and cartoonists were invited to sign autographs for their fans and to attend various seminars.
Besides the book fair, special exhibitions featuring Russian illustrations and French printing-engraving techniques from the Louvre in Paris were also on display.
On Saturday, a panel on Taiwan-Japan relations and related political developments were held. Participating in the event was former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Taiwan independence activist Alice King (金美齡) and Japanese scholar Mineo Nakajima.
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