Competitors, technical experts and delegation members from around the world are arriving in Shanghai as the 48th WorldSkills Competition prepares to open on Tuesday.
Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao airports have recorded a surge in event-related arrivals in recent days, with more than 3,200 participants having entered China through the city by early Monday morning.
The six-day competition will run through Sunday, bringing together about 1,400 competitors from nearly 70 countries and regions. Held every two years, the WorldSkills Competition is the world's largest international gathering of skilled professionals. This year’s event will feature 64 skills, including seven new categories such as software testing and unmanned aerial systems.
The competition covers six major skill areas, including manufacturing and engineering technology, information and communication technology, construction and building technology, transportation and logistics, creative arts and fashion, and social and personal services.
Shanghai sees surge in WorldSkills delegations as competition approaches
Tens of thousands of visitors have been filling a centuries-old park in the Chinese capital since the 2026 Beijing Book Fair opened there on Sep. 17, drawn by affordable books and by imperial documents rarely put on public display.
Also known as the Temple of Earth Book Fair, the 11-day event brings together more than 400 publishers, cultural institutions, and bookstores, with over 500 booths set up across the park alongside a series of side events.
A major highlight of this year's fair is the expanded foreign-language section, which has grown from seven tents last year to ten, offering around 8,000 titles spanning children's books, literature, social sciences and art.
For some visitors, the discounted prices were a key draw.
"I picked up three sets of books. They are all series, including some well-known English picture books. Altogether, they cost less than 300 yuan (about 45 U.S. dollars)," one visitor said.
China’s reading culture has continued to grow in recent years. Data from the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication shows the adult reading rate rose from around 76 percent in 2012 to over 82 percent in 2025, with each person reading an average of 8 books a year.
To meet the growing appetite for books, publishers and bookstores have introduced vouchers and discounts to make them more accessible. The response has exceeded expectations, the organizers said.
"We have worked with two publishing groups to bring costs down by 10 to 20 percent and pass those savings on to readers. Visitor numbers on the first day were already at weekend levels, and our sales were three times those of the opening day last year," said Shi Jia, product manager from the Beijing Foreign Languages Bookstore.
Beyond the best-sellers, the fair features a section with more than 100,000 secondhand books, old volumes and rare editions, some dating back centuries. Classical Ming and Qing dynasty texts on China's 24 solar terms are among the offerings, while a special exhibition is displaying rarely shown imperial documents.
Zhao Jinbo, a history enthusiast, said the exhibition offered a rare chance to see original historical records up close.
"I am very interested in ancient books, so this was a great opportunity. I came especially to see things like a memorial to the throne from the Qing Dynasty and an imperial examination paper. They are all originals, so it was really something to see," he said.
After its Beijing run, the fair will travel to Baoding City in north China's Hebei Province and then to Tianjin Municipality.
Beijing Book Fair draws thousands of readers with discounted titles, rare volumes
