The 10th Shanghai Book Fair (SBF) kicked off on August 14 and will run until next Tuesday. The annual cultural event provides not only spiritual food to people of all ages but a communication platform for publishers, writers, translators and their readers as well.

Given the declining fortunes of book publishers and book retailers, it's exciting to see the book fair under the media spotlight again.

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2013 Shanghai Book Fair kicks off

Although cheaper books are easily found on the Internet, to many residents, it's a real pity that the city lacks good brick-and-mortar stores to browse the shelves and make unexpected discoveries.

The book fair provides space for hundreds of temporary "bookstores" at the Shanghai International Exhibition Center near Jing'an Temple. Visitors to the fair can find a huge range of books at discounted prices.

The theme of this year's fair is "love reading, love life." Indeed, reading should be a lifelong practice. But unfortunately, Chinese people read much less than people in other nations. According to a survey in 2012, Chinese citizens read an average of 4.39 books a year, compared to 16 books for European and American citizens. Israelis topped the list by reading 64 books a year on average.

The survey found that Chinese people listed "too busy to read," "no reading habit" and "more time for TV" as reasons why they don't read more often.

For many Chinese, books are read as a means to an end rather than read for the sake of reading. Self-help and career advice books are bestsellers every year in China, as readers hope to find a silver bullet to making their fortune or getting ahead.

Nobody will deny that reading helps a person and a country. A good environment should be created to encourage reading.

Street corner bookstores serve as landmarks in neighbors like Singapore and Hong Kong. When people recommend to friends where to go in a foreign city, it's not uncommon to see bookstores on the list. But Shanghai lacks such a venue.

It is becoming increasingly common to hear about bookstores closing down or moving from a downtown venue to a suburban location to make ends meet. Year by year, bookstores are disappearing. Only at the beginning of September and March are bookstores packed, when students and parents flock to purchase educational materials assigned by school teachers.

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