The 27th Beijing International Book Fair kicked off on Saturday, as announced in a brief opening ceremony live streamed in the morning.

To sustain the spirit of global cultural exchanges during the COVID-19 pandemic, the book fair is totally online. Deemed as the world's second largest book fair in terms of scale and influence, the event has been attracting publishing professionals worldwide since 1986.

For the 2020 session, the fair has so far attracted 1,400 publishing organizations from 97 countries and regions, bringing 300,000 titles on display online. Its organizers say the decision to go online hasn't influenced the scale of the grand cultural event, but with flexibility in time and space, it may serve a larger audience.

Two hundred first-time exhibitors are at this year's fair, according to the organizers.

Cuba is featured as the guest of honor of the 2020 fair. On Sept 28, the two countries will celebrate the 60th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties.

More than 700 book-related events scheduled until end of September, including the annual Beijing International Publishing Forum, are being presented via the fair’s bilingual mobile application, its official websites, online book selling platforms, and many bookstores all over the country.

An exhibition of selected titles is representative of influential quality publications and is available online. Virtual reality libraries offer online tours to some well-known bookstores and libraries.