2025 Temple of Earth book fair opens in Beijing

The 2025 "The Temple of Earth and Me" Beijing Book Fair officially opened its gates Friday at the Temple of Earth Park (Ditan Park), launching an 11-day celebration of literature and culture through Sept. 22.

This year's event promises a comprehensively upgraded experience, marked by a major expansion in scale, quality, and interactive offerings. The main exhibition area has been increased to around 20,000 square meters, adding 2,000 square meters from the previous year. The fair features 13 distinct zones hosting over 350 publishers, distributors, and cultural institutions from across the nation.

Visitors can browse a collection of nearly 500,000 publications and cultural products, an increase of about 100,000 from 2024. The event schedule also includes more than 100 reading and cultural activities.

The book offerings center on Beijing's culture and history, the 80th anniversary of the victory in China's war against Japanese aggression, as well as this year's best-sellers. 

In addition, the foreign-language section has been expanded, offering close to 10,000 imported original titles. New for this year is a dedicated zone for children's classics, showcasing over 1,800 varieties of original edition children's books, totaling more than 10,000 copies, more than double last year's offering.

The old books section has also been expanded, curating a collection of over 100,000 ancient books and second-hand titles for collectors and enthusiasts.

In addition, the sci-tech education zone features physics magic shows, robot interactions, and AI reading experiences.

In a move to promote public engagement, the government will distribute 5 million yuan ($702,400) in book vouchers to visitors. The vouchers come in three tiers: 10 yuan off a 30-yuan purchase, 20 yuan off a 50-yuan purchase, and 50 yuan off a 100-yuan purchase.