1600 pandas in Hongkong

In French, at Fubiz:

L’artiste français Paulo Grangeon, en accord avec la WWF, PMQ et le studio de création allrightsreserved ont proposé la mise en place de 1600 pandas en papier-mâché dans les rues de Hong Kong afin de sensibiliser le public à la perte rapide et tragique de cet animal. Une initiative qui avait déjà été menée dans des villes comme Paris, Rome ou Berlin.

In English, at Artnet:

In fact, the over-the-top cuteness of the embarrassment of pandas (yes, that appears to be the technical term for a group of pandas) is what imbues the piece with such melancholy. As impressive in scope as the work initially appears, Grangeon has only created one statue for every extant panda worldwide. In fact, recent estimates actually peg the panda population at a slightly lower 1,596 bears.

Fubiz says its photos are from Hongkong but – can we rely on a French source? We cannot – most are from Taipei. As is this one, which shows 1600 pandas in front of the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall:

Speaking of Taipei, I have an article in this week’s Listener about the New Zealand publishers at the Taipei International Book Fair a month or three back. It begins:

It’s Friday, another quiet day in Hall 1 at the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE). According to the digital display at the main entrance, only 4315 people are here – the crowds won’t descend until the weekend. But the publishers are busy enough, showing their books, their frontlists and their backlists, buying and selling rights, renewing contact with old faces and meeting new ones. This February event is Asia’s premier book fair, much more important than Beijing, says Bob Andersen of Wendy Pye’s Sunshine Books. “Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore have all got ...

And there the free preview ends. To read the whole thing, buy a copy or subscribe. The article is circumspect about what went on between publishers and others in the hotel bar but is otherwise, I think, reliable.

I will have an update soon about a New Zealand publisher, cited in the article, selling even more New Zealand books into the Chinese-language market. Globalisation works both ways.