All the world at the Shanghai fair

Wang says last year's book fair focused on rights sales, but this year he hopes it will focus on exchanging knowledge and ideas, a central role of book fairs worldwide.

"We want to provide activities suitable for all the key players in the publishing industry, from the content creators like authors, illustrators and editors, through to intermediaries like book agents, book shops and users, like teachers and children."

Around 190 exhibitors from 25 countries were expected to come to the fair, notably Macmillan, Oxford University Press, Pearson and Bloomsbury.

The only other international book fair that focuses on works for children is the 51-year-old Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy. Wang says the Shanghai fair has a big advantage - 300 million Chinese children who are the end customers.

In addition, the Shanghai fair has strong support from its partners, including Shanghai Municipal Press and Publication Bureau, China Universal Press & Publication Co, and China Educational Publications Import & Export Corporation Ltd, Wang says.

The Shanghai fair also enjoys the support of organizers of the London Book Fair because both operate under Reed Exhibitions, an international events organizer with headquarters in Richmond, Surrey, in the UK.

One big contribution the London fair organizers was to make in Shanghai is the hosting of a forum on transmedia, which entails different publications platforms coming together to deliver the same content.

Jacks Thomas, director of the London fair, says the growth of transmedia has changed the way content is delivered and taught to children.

"It has changed the way that children learn how to spell, learn different languages and learn times tables."

A fine example is Puffin Rock, simultaneously a pre-school television series and a book series, to be launched next year, she says. "The process has been done creatively, hand in hand."

Thomas, who sees the London Book Fair as the Shanghai fair's "older sister", says Chinese children's publishers are very visionary and cutting edge across all media they work with.

"Multimedia is not a threat as far as I can see in any Chinese publisher's mind; it is more of an opportunity. Whereas sometimes in more mature markets it is very expensive to invest in the multimedia aspect, China is really leaping ahead in that."