Sleepless in book-mad Taipei
As the site of Asia's biggest book centre, Taiwan unveiled the concept of a 24- hour bookshop at the Bangkok International Book Fair (BIBF) 2007 yesterday.
Paoping Huang, executive director of Taipei Book Fair Foundation, said that her country's relatively liberal atmosphere is well reflected in its people's unlimited access to the world of books. Taiwan's - and Asia's - first 24-hour bookshop called Eslite attracts sleepless bookworms of all ages who can be seen browsing the shelves in the wee small hours. "In Taipei, bookshops follow the craze for all-night services shaped by karaoke bars, clubs, theatres and restaurants. At 3 in the morning, readers young and old can be seen shopping for books. The bookshop even sees customers from Hong Kong and Japan," said Paoping. She said Taiwan prides itself on being Asia's largest book centre and the world's fourth largest with some 9,000 publishers churning out 40,000 new releases a year. Manote Tripathi The Nation
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