The entrance of the permanent Sinan Bookshop in Sinan Mansion, which boasts a "golden location" and has become a focal point for literature in Shanghai.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"We finally chose another path, and one that wasn't about entertainment or big discounts. Instead, we set up the Shanghai International Literature Week, adding literary, international and academic elements to the book fair," he says.

"We used literature and writers to attract an extensive range of readers, international elements to improve the quality of the book fair and academic sections to define the direction of its development."

Over the past eight years, more than 200 writers, including four Nobel Prize-winning authors, have attended the literary week during the Shanghai Book Fair to deliver speeches and meet with readers.

"Even during the hot weather in August, when temperatures reach 42 C, it's common to see people form a 200-meter line at the entrance of the Shanghai Exhibition Center where the book fair takes place," Kan says.

During the first weekend of the Shanghai Book Fair 2018, even after three typhoons had swept over the city, the lines stretched even farther. At the same time, more than 1,000 book events were held in bookstores across the city.