It's the first day today of the book market in the Temple of Earth, with other 10 days following till October 20th.

Book market almost become a traditional activity in Beijing. Generally, it's held twice a year, one is in spring, around the 1st May holiday, and the other one is in autumn, around the 1st October holiday. At the begining, book market was often held in Workers' Cultural Palace, till 8 year ago, the site was changed to the Temple of Earth(abbr. ToE). The date of book market is not fixed, because it will be postponed or canceled for some special event, typically, the 2008 spring book market was conceled for coming Olympic Games.

In this market, almost all the book publishers and sells gather together here to clear stocks,and you also can get what you want while just pay for  a very low price. Although Chinese people's living standards are rising rapidly, the book prices seem still too high to most common people. So it's a good chance to enrich oneself.

I, myself, like this book market very much, what interests me is secondhand book and original edition, especially, the later one.It's lucky to me to be able to read so many foreign books, for tow purposes, language study and broadening horizon. Remember that quote? "How wide your eyes broaden, how big the world is." Or "Open your eyes; open your world." I don't want to be a optimistic frog* in a well.

But in China, book market is not as clear as developed nation. For more excessive profits, illegal piratic books, periodicals and audio-visual products are everywhere. Although government begins to reinforce the management on it, but they can not be eliminated in very short period. So you must take sharp eyes with you, and pay more attention on it.

* a frog in a well: Jing Di Zhi Wa>> is a Chinese proverbs, means the frog in a well can only see a small piece of sky, but mistakenly assumes it's the whole, which said of a person with a very limited outlook.