Book fair tickets go on sale from Thursday

Tickets for the 2020 Shanghai Book Fair ticket will be available from Thursday at 12 Xinhua Bookstore outlets across the city. Buyers will have to show their identity cards and are limited to three tickets per person. 

Buying tickets for family members or friends requires their identity information. After getting a ticket, buyers should scan the QR code on it and fill in personal information.

The book fair's e-tickets will be available online from Friday. The number of both offline and online tickets is limited and will cost 10 yuan (US$1.4) for a day ticket (9am to 5pm) and 5 yuan for evenings (6pm to 9pm). The hour between the two periods is for cleaning and sterilization and all visitors and exhibitors will have to leave venues. 

Zeng Yuan, an official with the local publicity authority, said security checks with health measures like temperature screening will be carried out at three gates of the Shanghai Exhibition Center during the fair from August 12 to 18 and there will be no parking available.

Nearby shopping mall the Jing'an Kerry Centre is offering two hours free parking for ticket holders but the number of spaces is limited.

Zhejiang, this year’s guest province, has designed its booth as a "waterfront village" with mockups of traditional Jiangnan buildings, bridges and creeks. These elements, as well as the dispersed distribution of bookshelves, will help visitors keep at a distance from each other.

Xinhua Media will have a sanitation station at its site with various types of prevention and sterilization tools. If anyone with abnormal temperature is found, he or she will be isolated at the station to await the arrival of on-site medical staff.

To prevent readers from gathering for book signings, more than 150 newly published books from publishing houses all over the country will have their debuts on Xinhua Media's online platform as well as the book fair's official site for the first time.

"The authors are invited to take video clips to introduce their books instead of coming to the scene," said Jiang Li, deputy general manager of Xinhua Media. "The online debuts will allow readers to see their favorite authors at any time and not miss out just because they fail to arrive at the place on time."