HONG KONG: China's entry into the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) in October is opening new worlds of literature and thought to readers on the Chinese mainland and in the West, says Paul Feain, an Australian bookseller who has come here for the International Antiquarian Book Fair which opens today.

"What we would like to do is to bring Westerners to Hong Kong. We want to open their eyes. At the same time, we can bring Western books to Chinese people," said Feain, who is also president of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers.

"People are scared of things they don't know and Westerners don't know the Asian," said Feain. Yet having more contact with Chinese antiquarian books, hopefully, will make China's beautiful ideas spread in the western world, he added. One of the examples of these books is "The Twenty Four Cases of Filial Piety" about the love of father and son.

Feain has been handling antiquarian books for the last 30 years. He sees the burgeoning Chinese economy as a great opportunity. And he has just started to explore the developing markets for antiquarian books in China, getting to know more about the mysterious Chinese culture and its five thousand years of history.

"I feel enriched and learned more about China," said Feain excitedly. He recalls visiting a library in Beijing where he had chance to get in touch with many beautiful and important Chinese books. He said the scrolls and books written on bamboo or silk amazed him.

Feain said that although he did not know how to read Chinese characters, he has learned a lot about Chinese culture through getting in touch with the Chinese antiquarian books and calligraphy. One of his recent favorites is a scroll book featuring the famous story from Chinese literature Red Mansion.

Feain is staging the International Antiquarian Bookfair at the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre from today to December 6. The fair is jointly organized by Mitsuo Nitta from Yushodo in Tokyo and Chris Li from the Hong Kong Book Centre in Hong Kong. This is the third time they've held a fair in Hong Kong.

The bookfair aims to provide an opportunity for book lovers and collectors to purchase, examine and educate themselves about Eastern and Western antiquarian books. The bookfair promises visitors one of the world's finest collection of antiquarian and rare books, maps, prints, photos, autographs, manuscripts, etc., priced from a few hundred to over half a million Hong Kong dollars.

This year, there are about 36 antiquarian book dealers from around the world including one from the mainland, four from Hong Kong, and one from Taiwan.

"Love of books unites us," said Feain, "Books bring us all together. We come together because of the love of books and become friends."

Feain said he thought the bookfair could act as a platform, enabling the East and the West to know more about each other.

"Every book is an important piece of cultural history," he said. He thought each book reflected the way of living of each culture and the thinking of the time. The content of each book was what he thought as important and valuable.

"What is written in a book can change the way we live," said Feain. Feain demonstrates that belief in his nonstop traveling and exploration around the world and more frequently now in China.

(HK Edition 12/04/2009 page1)