The 2015 Taipei International Book Exhibition kicked off on Wednesday at the Taipei World Trade Center. A performance by Maori dancers launched the event, highlighting New Zealand as the theme country at this year’s expo.
President Ma Ying-jeou spoke at Wednesday’s opening about Taiwan’s use of traditional Chinese characters.
“Everyone knows that here in Taiwan we use traditional characters, which are a little bit different from the simplified characters used in mainland China," said Ma. "There are more than 1.3 billion people who use simplified characters, but only about 40 million who use traditional characters. But ever since I took office, I have not heard a single Chinese visitor express having difficulty understanding traditional characters. I think the most important thing is that Taiwan has become the primary society in which traditional characters are used, and we hope to continue that tradition.”
The president also spoke about how Taiwan publishes some 42,000 new books each year. That puts it at second in the world, along with Slovenia, in terms of countries that publish the most books per capita each year. Only the United Kingdom publishes more.
More than 400 authors are expected to participate in this year’s Taipei International Book Exhibition, along with exhibitors from 67 countries. The exhibit will be open to the general public from Thursday through Monday at the Taipei World Trade Center, Halls One and Two. For the first time this year, entry is free for visitors under 18, and half off for visitors over 18 with a student ID.