The 2026 Beijing Spring Book Fair will be held from April 18 to May 17. For the first time, the period is extended to one month.

Themed "Beijing, City of Books — Reading Pleasure in Spring", this book fair is expected to become China's first large-scale public cultural event with physical bookstores as key participants. Over 2,000 bookstores across the city will participate throughout the event. Meanwhile, the venue design will employ various trendy elements to deliver immersive experiences, offering readers engaging and immersive cultural spaces.

This book fair will build a citywide public reading service network. Four major venues will be set up at Chaoyang Park, Shougang Park, Nanyuan Forest Wetland Park and Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park, located respectively in the east, west, north and south of the city, with a total area of approximately 16,000 square meters. More than 70 special activities will be held in communities, business districts, schools and governmental institutions. Physical bookstores in the city's 16 districts as well as the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area will join to establish their own event-exclusive zones, aimed at ensuring citywide provision of relevant reading services for the first time.

The public reading promotional campaign will be launched again, optimizing the use of relevant coupons. In addition, customers who buy books can take part in lottery draws on offer, with chances to win surprise rewards such as performance tickets as well as tourism cards for suburban Beijing.

In collaboration with the Beijing International Film Festival, a special film-themed book section will be set up at the book fair, with many other themed exhibitions scheduled. The two events will also launch a mutual discount campaign, providing every holder of the ticket stub of one of the events with discounts for the other. Additionally, this book fair will cover several cinemas for the first time with book displays and sales.

A range of online and offline parallel events will also be launched for the book fair. The 3rd National Antiquarian Book Fair and Sales Annual Meeting (全国古旧书展销年会) will be held, and over 500 reading and cultural activities will be organized under the theme "Reading the Spring Lecture Hall" (悦读春天大讲堂), during which cultural celebrities and scholars will release new books, host book talks and give cultural lectures.

For the first time, these activities will be streamed on new media platforms to enhance the book fair's publicity. In partnership with "Beijing Style" (a short video competition), the fair will see nearly 20 social media influencers helping enhance the fair's publicity and recommend excellent publications. New media platforms will also set up their stands or booths at the fair and launch offline and online topic-based activities for interactions with readers.

(Source: The Beijing News)