Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai greeted guests from other countries on Jan. 29 at a press conference prior to the 21stTaipei International Book Exhibition, expressing the Ministry of Culture's emphasis on the publishing industry and the expansion of cultural exchanges.
Lung also urged all parents in Taiwan to take their children to the annual book fair "because it is more fun and interesting than the Taipei International Flora Exposition.”
A group of 37 writers, musicians, illustrators, comic book artists, artists and publishers from Belgium, which is featured as this year's "Guest of Honor” country, are invited to the exhibition.
"The size of the delegation is larger than that to the Frankfurt Book Fair,” which demonstrated that Belgium has taken the Taipei exhibition very seriously, said the Minister. Although the country is "small” in Europe, it is "more romantic than France, more relaxed than Germany and more generous than the Netherlands.” Belgian culture is well worth knowing more and the Belgium pavilion in the Taipei exhibition is a must-see for parents and children, she added.
The exhibition is held between Jan. 30 and Feb. 4 at the Taipei World Trade Center's Hall 1, 2 and 3, with 737 publishing houses from more than 70 countries participating. The themes of this year's exhibition are "global exchanges,” "publication expertise” and "a life of reading.” Not only are tens of thousands of books on display, 700 activities related to reading are slated to take place.