With only 10 days to go until the Hong Kong Book Fair 2025 officially opens, we anticipate the unfolding of one of our city’s premier indoor cultural events. From July 16th to 22nd, the Wan Chai Convention and Exhibition Centre will once again become a bustling hub for literature and ideas. It’s heartening to note the significant presence of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, with its various communication arms—the Catholic Centre, Catholic Truth Society, Diocesan Audio-Visual Centre, Kung Kao Po, and also Clearspring Publications participating.
This transcends mere commerce. While we encourage good reading habits and promote quality literature, the deeper, more profound purpose is to manifest the Church’s presence and engage in evangelisation among the broader public.
This year, the annual book fair brings together more than 700 exhibitors and hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected, including people from the mainland. This presents a golden opportunity for the diocese and we must be strategic in attracting visitors to our booth. This means meticulous attention to booth design, product display, and the diversity and visual appeal of our offerings.
The aim is to encourage visitors, particularly those unfamiliar with the faith, to pause, explore, browse, and perhaps even engage in meaningful conversations with our dedicated staff. It is a crucial first step toward understanding Catholicism.
To this end, the Catholic exhibition area this year will feature special rosary workshops at various times, offering an engaging way for visitors to participate and create something unique.
In this age of rapid advancements in electronic information technology, immediacy reigns supreme. A deluge of online content is just a click away. With readily accessible digital information, the challenge lies in how to inspire readers to embrace the physical book and cultivate a lasting reading habit.
While physical books retain a loyal following rooted in traditional reading preferences, the rise of e-books is a phenomenon that cannot be overlooked. Their primary advantage, particularly in space-constrained Hong Kong, is the ease of storage, alleviating the perennial headache of finding room for printed matter. Moreover, the increasing prevalence of e-book platforms offers a vital solution for reprinting classic works that have long been out of print.
For our overseas and mainland readers, e-books offer unparalleled convenience in terms of browsing, purchasing, and downloading. Recognising this evolving landscape, the diocese has developed a Catholic e-book website which officially launched this past January after considerable effort.
Whether through the tangible experience of a book fair or the expansive reach of an online e-book platform, our fundamental objective remains unchanged: to actively reach out and evangelise. This is the very essence of our mission, echoing the divine command: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” [Mark 16:15].
We eagerly await your visit to the Catholic Exhibition Area at the Hong Kong Book Fair! SE
