With temperatures hitting rock bottom in Beijing, people's enthusiasm for books has enticed hundreds along to this year's Winter Book Fair. About 250, 000 locals have braved the chilly weather to pick-up a bargain at the fair held in the Earth Temple Park. Our reporter Zheng Chenguang was one of these brave people who rugged-up to search for the perfect bargain priced book.

More than 200 people set-up about 600 booths in this year's winter book fair, which just concluded yesterday. Though during the 12 days Beijing experienced the coldest weather on record for about 10 years, more than 300 thousand people visited the outdoor book fair and sales hit a record high of 20 million yuan, or about 2.4 million US dollars. What contributed to the success of this fair? Liu Jun, one principal of the organizing committee compares this book fair to previous fairs.

"The biggest attraction of the Winter Book Fair is the low prices as books are cheapest during this period of time. Most of the books enjoy a discount of more than 50 percent. And many books that have been in storage are selling at surprisingly low price. That's why the fair has attracted many people, especially students."

Many book collectors visited the book fair with a very clear purpose, buying books they need for work or school at a low price. That's another reason behind the success of the fair. Zhang Li, a student from the Capital Normal University, says she comes a long way to buy books here.

"I've made a list of the books I want and I've found most of the books on the list. The books are really cheap here. I think this trip has been quite worthwhile."

The book fair not only benefits ordinary readers but book traders as well. Scholar Books, an already established brand in big cities like Shanghai, has just entered Beijing's book market. Mr Zhang, a staff member from Scholar Books, says they are trying to build their image among Beijing's book lovers through the book fair.

"The books we are selling here include history, literature and biography. They are all the best-sellers in our store. We participate in the book fair because we believe a lot will be visiting here. As a new comer here, we should first make our brand well-known among book lovers."

Book fairs are a traditional activity in Beijing. But this year the organizers are trying to add something new to the old tradition. It features the tsunami donation activity and many other cultural activities. If you miss this year's book fair, start putting together your book wish-lists and get along to next year's fair.

(CRI.com January 5, 2005)