Controversy, cooking and cats: Hong Kong Book Fair opens doors to eager crowds
Parents feeling academic pressure and readers on the hunt for tomes unwanted on the mainland give local flavour to annual publishing event
The “winning at the starting line” mentality has become so ingrained in local parents’ minds that many were spotted snapping up workbooks for children as young as kindergarten age at the Hong Kong Book Fair, which opened on Wednesday.
Dozens of publishers at the fair targeted parents with children so young they do not even know how to use chopsticks and pens.
The annual book fair, which runs until Tuesday, is one of the largest in the world, featuring local and international publishers.
While children’s story and assessment books have been popular in recent years, exhibitors noted a rise in interest in books for those aged as young as three.
Lee Wing-lam, the manager of children’s book publisher KEA Learning International’s booth, pointed out that the sales of kindergarten workbooks had “greatly increased” in the past year or two.
