25 Beauty of Books winners from China will compete in German design competition
This year, 25 books from 24 domestic publishing houses from 11 provinces and cities were awarded the title of "Beauty of Books" in China.
A jury of eminent book designers chose the winners from more than 230 books that were submitted by 121 publishing houses, encompassing literature, art, science and technology, education, history, life, children, and other subjects.
These books will travel to Leipzig, Germany, to compete in the Best Book Design From All Over The World 2024 competition.
In the past 19 years, Beauty of Books in China has entered 446 books at the Leipzig competition, with 23 winning awards and two receiving the gold medal.
The Beauty of Books in China contest, which has been held annually for the past two decades, is committed to enlightening and promoting Chinese design around the world and giving a platform to China's outstanding book designers on the international stage.
Every year, local and international book designers and senior publishers are invited to serve as judges for the event.
The ability to grasp the criteria of "beauty" and "usefulness" is a significant factor for Chinese and international judges when selecting a book. Those who focus solely on the beauty of design while ignoring the comfort and experience of reading are thought to be ignoring the essentials.
One intriguing aspect is that some of this year's winners have "accessories" within.
For instance, the book Allium, which is a collection of essays about agriculture and crops, has a "supermarket receipt" attached to the cover. It contains several translucent cards inserted in the book with beautiful sketches of plants on them.
The book "Painted Photos from the Second Half of the 20th Century," which describes the history of photography and explains how black-and-white photos are transformed into colorful ones, comes with a little and delicate photo pocketbook and some miniature cards.
Painted Photos from the Second Half of the 20th Century
"Cuban Chinese" is organized like a file folder, with many little black-and-white images of the people involved on the "album" page. This gives the reader a clear impression of the stories told by the Cuban Chinese about their ancestors.
Cuban Chinese
Readers will notice brilliant colors on the covers and content of several of the publications.
Two books "Exhibition Realm: Selected Special Exhibitions from Chengdu Museum" and "Treasure Collection of Shanghai Sports Museum" both use bright green covers to distinguish themselves from the rest.
"Missing Famous Dishes" features a bright red soft cloth cover and chronicles certain missing tastes during the Republic of China based on old menus and receipts found at the Guangzhou Museum.
Missing Famous Dishes
Artwork collection "Sunny Days" has pages in irregular shapes and bright colors, while the comment collection "Don't Guess, It's Just a Novel" about the Chinese classic "A Dream in Red Mansions" has bright red pages with white patterns.
Sunny Days
Don't Guess, It's Just a Novel
"Breath In, Breath Out" is a children's book set. It features vibrant, colorful covers and a strong color palette that complements the artwork and contents.
Breath in, Breath out
Many of these publications feature traditional Chinese elements such as Hanfu culture, ceramic artworks, intangible cultural heritages, and ancient Chinese books.
They will all be on exhibit later at a public exhibition.
The children's book "The Painting" is about Chinese intangible cultural heritage.
"Yanjing Biographies – A study of unpublished articles from the former Sino-French Institute of Sinology"
