People read books at Eon Books in Futian District, the city's first foreign-language bookstore.
Books on display at the Shenzhen Publishing House French Books Exhibition during this year's Shenzhen Book Fair.
Shenzhen residents spent 68.98 minutes reading daily per capita and read approximately 18 books on average in 2022, with both figures much higher than the national averages, according to a municipal annual reading report released this April on the occasion of the 28th World Book and Copyright Day.
The figures speak for themselves. In Shenzhen, a city recognized by UNESCO as a global model for the promotion of reading, people who are engrossed in reading can always be found on the subway, in parks or cafes, let alone in libraries and bookstores.
International cultural exchange is one of the key highlights of this year's Shenzhen Reading Month, the biggest event in the city's literary calendar. Meanwhile, over 5,000 kinds of imported books were displayed at the Imported Books Exhibition Area of the recently concluded fifth Shenzhen Book Fair.
The fair also featured the Shenzhen Publishing House French Books Exhibition, which showcased nearly 200 kinds of French books introduced and published by Shenzhen Publishing House over the past 20 years.
Introducing French books
Speaking of Chinese publishers that are involved in the introduction of French literature, Shenzhen Publishing House (formerly Haitian Publishing House) is assured of a place in this area.
The publishing house is one of the earliest publishers in China to venture into the French publishing industry for copyright trade negotiations. Livres Hebdo, a well-known French monthly magazine, has called Shenzhen Publishing House "an important promoter of contemporary French literature in China."
The publishing house carried out publicity and exchange activities in the French publishing industry as early as 1998 and has established business partnerships with over 30 French publishing houses.
Hu Xiaoyue, chief editor of Shenzhen Publishing House and manager of MAURICE publishing studio, is the prime mover behind these efforts. Thanks to him, many of France's latest literary works were quickly introduced to China.
According to Hu, the French books on display at the Shenzhen Publishing House French Books Exhibition included novels, poems, prose, biographies, cartoons, and academic books. Some of the works are from renowned French writers, some are award-winning literary works, and some are known for their innovative ideas or expressions.
"Originality is a very important criterion for our book selection, which is consistent with Shenzhen's character," Hu said.
In terms of book selection standards, Hu believes that publishers must not passively follow the market, but rather cultivate and improve readers' appreciation ability, and guide the market.
In July 2021, Shenzhen Publishing House released the Chinese version of the 2020 Goncourt Prize-winning novel "L'anomalie" at the 30th National Book Expo.
"It fits our book selection criteria like a glove: literary, ideological, innovative, unique... Upon seeing this book, I immediately quoted a price to a French publishing house to negotiate a contract. It was a close call. The book won the prize two days after we signed the contract," Hu recalled.
"It would be a totally different price if we were to negotiate after the book won the prize," he said with a smile.
Window to the world
"Your window to the world." These simple words have been Eon Books' management philosophy.
Eon Books, established in 2006, is the first foreign-language bookstore in Shenzhen, offering original imported English books.
In 2020, it was rated as one of Shenzhen's most beautiful bookstores. Located in the bustling city center with a reading space of 350 square meters, the bookstore has nearly 20,000 original copies of best-selling books from mainstream publishing houses worldwide.
"As an importer and distributor offering foreign language books, we aim to help connect Shenzhen readers with the world's literature as the mainstay for foreigners and people who are interested in foreign-language books," Zhong Xiaohong, manager of the bookstore, told Shenzhen Daily.
According to Zhong, the bookstore has set up a booth at the Shenzhen Book Fair every year since the fair's inception. "In addition to selling new books, we also exhibited a batch of original English inventory books for sale and provided a great discount to readers."
The bookstore has also been one of the key venues for Shenzhen Reading Month activities.