A wide range of activities at the Beijing International Book Fair drew the attention of young visitors. The annual fair, launched in 1986, has now grown into one of the world's biggest book events. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

Last week, Steve Potash, president and CEO of US-based e-book publisher OverDrive, was thrilled to discover that a South Korean publisher had managed to link virtual-reality technology to e-books.

He said he heard that at a forum at the Beijing International Book Fair.

Potash praised the fair for bringing new and advanced thinking to the global publishing business.

Thirty years after it was founded in 1986, the fair has become the world's second-largest book fair in scale, and is turning into an international reading festival instead of merely a platform for copyright trades, its organizers say.

"The book fair keeps its advantages for the professional audience, and strengthens its attractions to general readers with better experience and interaction," says Lin Liying, vice-president of China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation, one of the BIBF organizers.