Over the weekend, we gave you a quick look at the 18th annual Delhi Book Fair, where e-books and e-reading technology are making a significant public appearance for the first time. (The nine-day event ends on Sunday, September 9.)

Interestingly enough, at the 19th Beijing International Book Fair, which wrapped up just three days ago, e-reading was an especially hot topic as well. More than 2,000 publishing companies from some 75 “countries and regions,” according to one news report, exhibited their products this year.

Mainland China’s e-reading trend, of course, is nothing new. But I did stumble across an interesting CCTV News report (see video below), which suggested that “39 percent of Chinese people aged 18 to 70 are reading with electronic devices [today], while hundreds of millions [are reading] on their mobile phones.”

Incidentally, the Beijing Fair’s 456-page program can be viewed online, here; a decent portion of the catalog is in English. Also worth a look are these two recent reports, both covering the Beijing Fair:

  1. E-reading draws visitors at Beijing book fair
  2. Book lovers flock to International Book Fair in Beijing

For a somewhat wider perspective on the Chinese publishing scene, here are a few reports from this year’s Shanghai Book Fair, which took place over four days in mid-August:

  1. Shanghai Book Fair: Carnival for readers
  2. Writers talk on transition from print to big screen at Shanghai Book Fair

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