Books, bags and lots more fun

"It's only in the past couple of years that these seals have become popular at the Shanghai Book Fair. They aren't only for children and young readers, I like them quite a lot too, because they look nice and evoke nice memories," she says, flipping through the pages to show the seals she collected in previous years.

The seals, which come with the logos, patterns and signature imagery of different institutions and subjects, have been designed by publishers, who invite visitors to have them stamped on the title page of the books they purchase. This year, collecting the seals as souvenirs has also proved popular for many visitors to the fair.

"This is just a new means to reach out to readers. We have an online bookstore, and in the past, we've held frequent book launches and reading events online and offline, and more recently, we introduced a WeChat mini-program," says Han Weidong, director of the Shanghai Translation Publishing House. "We are also working with social media influencers to have them spread the message about new books.

"We often hear people say that we have published so many great books, but the market has evolved and people have such varied, and short spans of interest nowadays, so we have to continuously find new ways to engage them," Han says. "It is not enough to just say how great the books are, we have to look for things that grab attention, introduce new subjects and great authors, and convince people that reading will help solve problems in real life."