Exhibition period: December 29, 2013- January 9, 2014

Exhibition location: Central Hall and Hall C of Shenzhen Guanshan Moon Art Museum

Host organization: Binding Art Working Committee of China Publishing Association

China Artists Association Graphic Design Art Committee

Propaganda Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China

Undertaking organization: Shenzhen Newspaper Group Jingbao

Guanshan Yue Art Museum

Chinese book art has a long and splendid history, leaving us with precious cultural heritage, which is the foundation for maintaining the vitality of Chinese books. E-books have brought impact to the traditional publishing industry, but they have also brought opportunities to create book carriers that embody infinite artistic charm, and have put forward higher requirements for contemporary book designers.
Since the first National Book Art Exhibition was held in the 1950s, seven National Book Art Exhibitions and Awards have been successfully held until 2009, documenting the development and progress of book design art in New China. After four years, the 8th National Book Design Art Exhibition was grandly held in Shenzhen, a bookish and elegant city. Shenzhen is a vibrant design city that cares about the cultivation of cultural soil and artistic creativity. The greatest driving force brought by China's reform and opening up over the past 30 years to Shenzhen is its never satisfied spirit of exploration. We are deeply honored that the National Book Design Art Exhibition, which is the first time going out of Beijing, can be held in Shenzhen, which vigorously promotes reading culture and has been awarded the title of "Global Model City for Reading for All" by UNESCO.

The exhibits of this exhibition are 1046 shortlisted works selected from nearly 3051 pieces (over 5000 volumes) at the 8th National Book Design and Art Exhibition, including 16 best works, 45 masterpieces, and 270 outstanding works. They are displayed at the elegant Guanshan Yue Art Museum to entertain friends who love book art and provide viewers with the opportunity to enjoy the poetic and literary heritage.

 Throughout the eight editions of the exhibition, there has been a new level of improvement compared to the previous edition, with a focus on plain reading style rather than superficial glamour. Many designers inject editorial design concepts into the overall design of the book, endowing the text with more vivid conveying power and reflecting the design essence of readability; The design language is imbued with the Chinese style of Eastern charm and conforms to the contemporary context of the times. Design engineering not only focuses on the logical rationality of content description, but also emphasizes the functionality and materialization details of printing technology. It is gratifying that more and more young designers have realized that books not only need a "beautiful" outer garment, but also need to have the investment of inner strength. Book design should allow the text to flow poetically on the page, give the text a desire for poetic dwelling, and stimulate readers to read poetically. Design should have warmth, concepts, and creativity. Designers should be focused, detail oriented, and attitude oriented. Design cannot only talk about "price" and ignore "value". It is important to have value for money. "Value" not only refers to cost, but more importantly, the effort put in. This is what makes this job worthwhile, and only when books can be passed down to future generations can their true value be reflected. The revitalization of contemporary Chinese book art relies on the tireless dedication of creative passion, full of ideals and a sense of responsibility.

       Books are sculptures of time; Books are buildings where information resides; Books are a time and space theater for poetic reading.

       With the diversification of reading media, it is urgent to update the design concepts of traditional media. Although there has been significant development in the art of Chinese books in the past thirty years, there are still many shortcomings, so there is still a lot of room for improvement. The foresight of e-books lies not in the carrier itself, but in the revolutionary changes in the form of reading. Believing that new concepts in book design will enrich the methodology of information and poetic dissemination, we can not only be participants in new media, but also guardians of the wonderful traditional world of paper books in the contemporary reading context, and creators of new forms of book reading. Books have their own vitality.

       We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Guan Shan Yue Art Museum and Shenzhen Library, who have provided great support for this exhibition. We would like to express our gratitude to the participants from all over the country and all the institutions, units, enterprises, and fellow friends who have contributed to this exhibition, forum, and book publishing!

Wishing the 8th National Book Design Art Exhibition a complete success!

Let the poetic charm flow through the paper, leaving a gentle echo of traditional paper reading.

The Organizing Committee of the 8th National Book Design Art Exhibition

December 29, 2014