22nd Shanghai Book Fair Opens August 12, Showcasing 380 Exhibitors Across 42,000 sqm

The 22nd Shanghai Book Fair is scheduled for August 12–18. At a press briefing on July 14, Quan Heng, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shanghai Committee and Director of the Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau, announced that the main venue spans 42,000 square meters, with 21 publishing groups and 380 publishing institutions participating. All 16 districts of Shanghai and about 50 New Era Civilization Practice Centers will be involved in linked activities.

For the first time, the fair invites Guangdong Publishing Group and Heilongjiang Publishing Group to exhibit, and launches the "Shanghai Book Fair Custom" brand concept. The preface hall will display key achievement bibliographies related to Shanghai's "Five Centers" construction and the "Five Great Libraries" collection. The Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles will participate holistically for the first time, bringing events by artist groups.

Digitalization is a key feature this year. The fair launches a service cloud platform and a "Shanghai Book Fair Intelligent Agent," collaborating with MiniMax and Zhiyuan Robot to provide AI-based book recommendations and video generation from book content. Additionally, a "Reading Hackathon" competition invites 19 university teams to produce AI short films within 24 hours on site. Platforms like Bilibili and miHoYo will join for the first time.

Ticket prices remain unchanged: 10 yuan for daytime entry and 5 yuan for evening entry, a standard maintained for 22 years. New services include Alipay-based contactless admission, AI-powered smart navigation, and free drinking water stations. The Yujie Night Market has been upgraded with cultural and creative products, intangible cultural heritage items, food, and performances, and offers bundled tickets connecting to exhibitions such as "Great Exhibition of Ancient American Civilizations."

On the policy front, the Regulations on Promoting Nationwide Reading has come into effect; the State Council's Government Work Report mentioned supporting the prosperity of the publishing industry and the development of brick-and-mortar bookstores for the first time; and the Shanghai Municipal Government Work Report incorporated the promotion of nationwide reading and the digital transformation of the publishing sector for the first time—three "firsts" signaling a shift toward legal reinforcement and stronger industrial support for reading.