Paju Book City Explained

Paju Book City
Native Name:파주출판도시
Native Name Lang:Hangul
Settlement Type:Industrial Complex
Nickname:Book City
Motto:"A City to Recover Lost Humanity"
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Name1:Gyeonggi Province
Subdivision Type2:City
Subdivision Name2:Paju City
Subdivision Type3:Semi-Autonomous
Subdivision Name3:Paju Book City
Established Title:1989
Total Type: 
Area Total Km2:0.875
Timezone1:KST
Utc Offset1:+09:00

Paju Book City, located in Gyoha-eup (Paju, Gyeonggi-do), is a cultural complex entirely devoted to the creation, publication, merchandising and sales of Korean books. The "city" belongs to Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.[1] Paju Book City is home to 250 publishers with over 10,000 workers. It covers the entire process of publishing from planning to printing and distribution and is home to a large number of book cafes and bookstores.[2]

Overview

Paju Book city is about an hour's drive north of Seoul, and sits directly alongside the 38th Parallel.[3] Approximately 250 companies have offices in this complex which spreads across 215acres. These firms employ generate over $1 billion in annual sales. As of the end of 2014, the city will be nearly doubled in size as 300 more publishing and printing companies have plans to move to Paju Book City.[4]

The Daily Telegraph described the role of Paju Book City as:

Korea’s publishing world is concentrated in Paju Book City, an hour’s drive north of Seoul. Inspired by Hay-on-Wye, Paju is a turbocharged version of the town of books. Two hundred publishers jostle in gleaming glass buildings above a plethora of bookshop cafés. At the weekend, I was told, it’s packed with literary-minded Koreans.[5]

Inside Paju Book City books outnumber people by a ratio of 20:1. Korean books are often sold from the ground floor of publishing companies in the city, but there are also several good used bookstores, at least two of which feature books in languages other than Korean. The city also contains unusual art galleries, book cafes, one guesthouse, and specialized exhibition spaces. There is also a playground for children, as well as an adjacent Premium Shopping Outlet.[6]

History

The first plans for Paju Book City were created in 1989 by a group of publisher desiring a model village that would be based solely on the idea of books and their productions, and that this model village would place “common good” above “ruthless self-interest”, as well as be built in harmony with the existing environment of the area.

The Korean government lent support to this plan and in 2001 the foundation as begun for the Asia Publication Culture and Information Centre which has since morphed into approximately 150 buildings containing more than 200 publishing companies.

The development process was unusual, as the desire for "harmony" was placed above the desire for "industrial development." Two different architects were commissioned as 'architectural coordinator' (Min Hyun-Shik and Seung H-Sang). These coordinators worked in concert with UK architect Florian Beigel of the University of North London, as well as more local architects Kim Jong-Kyu and Kim Young-Joon, in preparing an Architectural Guideline for Bookcity. All individual buildings had to be built according to that guideline and the city was divided into sectors, with each sector being given a lead architect. As the official site of Paju Book City notes, "It also was not an easy task to persuade tenants not accustomed to such a process to follow the plans."

Most of Korea's influential publishing companies maintain at least an office in Paju Book City, including MunhakDongne and Chang Bi, the publishers of Kyung-sook Shin, author of Please Look After Mother which won the Man Asian Literary Prize.

Paju has also created its own series of book prizes given to Asian books, writers, designers, publishing companies, and editors “who have dedicated themselves to the development and promotion of Asian publication culture.”

Events

Although events are held at the event center year round, Paju is known for two international festivals. In spring, it is the International Children's Book Festival[7] and in fall it is the annual International Book Festival whose theme is "Booksori", which typically receives nearly half-a million visitors over a 9-day period.

Awards

Best Technology in the Field of Culture Award at the annual Sheik Zayed Book Awards at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair - 2012

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Lee . Chang W. . Young . Jin Yu . 2023-11-25 . South Korea’s City of Books . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-11-27 . 0362-4331.
  2. Web site: Paju Book City (출판출판도시) . visitkorea.or.kr. Visit Korea . 13 April 2014.
  3. Book: Traveling the 38th Parallel: A Water Line Around the World. Ecological Recovery Behind Barbed Wire. 19. David and Janet Carle . University of California Press . Berkeley. 2013. B00BC5QI5S.
  4. Lee . Kwang-pyo . Winter 2012 . A Celebration of Reading . Koreana . Korea Foundation . 26 . 4 .
  5. News: South Korea: Writing on the edge . telegraph.co.uk . The Telegraph . 13 April 2014.
  6. Book: Lonely Planet Guidebook Korea. Heyri & Paju Book City. 19. Lonely Planet . Lonely Planet . Berkeley. 2011. 9781743213827.
  7. Web site: Children's Book Festival . pajubookcity.org . Bookcity Culture Foundation . 13 April 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130121112319/http://www.pajubookcity.org/english/sub_04_03_2010_01.asp . 21 January 2013 . dead .