South China Book Festival to kindle passion for reading

The 2018 South China Book Festival will take place in Zhanjiang from Aug 10 to 14, with a series of book exhibitions, autograph-signing sessions, recitation contests, and cultural performances in store at 11 venues throughout the city.

The spacious Zhanjiang International Convention Center will be the festival's main venue. Covering 32,000 square meters, its first floor will display 150,000 books and audio-visual products related to politics & law, social science, economic management, literacy & art, history & geography, and scientific technology.

Meanwhile, there will be a 300-square-meter folk culture zone exhibiting objects or photos of the most representative Zhanjiang intangible cultural heritage items. These will include Waking Lions, festive lanterns, Tiaoshun Net Dragon, cattail waved products and Beipo Swimming Fish.

The sci-tech innovation zone will spread over 300 square meters and showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements in artificial intelligence. Robots will demonstrate their skills by acting as waiters, playing the piano, dancing, playing football or performing lion dances.

To enhance the attraction, the manual craft zone will not only display different kinds of handicrafts, but also encourage visitors to try their hands at pottery, shell pictures, weaving and wax-dyeing.In addition to autograph-signing sessions, domestic writers and experts will lecture on history, literacy, art, military, education, healthcare and reading at the conference room on the second floor.

Visitors interested in cultural & creative products shouldn't miss the cultural industry zone, which will display redwood furniture, antiques, handicrafts, and rare stones, as well as root. shell and bamboo carvings in an exhibition area of 1,000 square meters.

Children's musicals, an art salon, folk art performances, a photo exhibition of characteristic studies, and singing, dancing and recitation competitions are also on tap for the book festival.